Europe is rich in coastal blue carbon ecosystems (CBCE), i.e., ecosystems dominated by macrophytes that capture carbon dioxide and bury it in the organic form, creating massive carbon reservoirs. With a few exceptions in the EU's outermost regions and OCTs, where mangroves are present, CBCE in Europe are represented by tidal marshes and seagrass beds. Driven by the need to reduce atmospheric CO2 to mitigate global warming, efforts to study these carbon sinks and reservoirs have grown exponentially. In order to share visions, unite efforts and agree on common strategies in this field in the Union, the Joint Programming Initiative Oceans is promoting a Joint Action on Blue Carbon (BC) to provide scientific advice and evidence to support national, EU and international environmental and climate policy objectives. The BC Expert Group (involving 15 EU Member States) has already developed a consensus vision of the field and prioritised the BC issues that require urgent attention. These include (i) integrating available information on BC in the EU, (ii) intensifying efforts to map CBCE, (iii) identifying key drivers of vulnerability of CBCE, (iv) addressing key knowledge gaps in BC science, (v) exploring opportunities for policy action, and (vi) engaging decision-makers and communities in protecting and restoring their CBCE. In this presentation, we will describe in detail the JPI Oceans action and its implementation plans, which may include joint calls, fast track activities, knowledge hubs or task forces, among others.

Tutorial/Invited: Invited

Primary Presenter: Yekaterina Astafyeva, JPI-Oceans (yekaterina.astafyeva@jpi-oceans.eu)

Authors:

Yekaterina Astafyeva, JPI-Oceans  (yekaterina.astafyeva@jpi-oceans.eu)

Majbritt Bolton-Warberg, Policy, Innovation and Research Support Services Group (PIRS), Marine Institute, Rinville, Ireland  (Majbritt.Bolton-Warberg@Marine.ie)

Grace Cott, School of Biology and Environmental Science, Science Centre West, University College Dublin, Ireland  (grace.cott@ucd.ie)

Katarina Viik, JPI Oceans, Belgium  (k.viik@jpi-oceans.eu)

Charlotte Le Delliou, French Ministry of Ecological Transition  (charlotte.le-delliou@developpement-durable.gouv.fr)

Bejamin Kürten, JPI Oceans, Belgium  (b.kuerten@fz-juelich.de)

Christina Pavlopoulou, Ministry of Environment and Energy, Greece  (ch.pavlopoulou@prv.ypeka.gr)

Ioanna Tsalakanidou, Ministry of Environment and Energy, Greece  (i.tsalakanidou@prv.ypeka.gr)

Antigoni Voudouri, Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency (NECCA), Greece  (a.voudouri@necca.gov.gr)

Sorcha Ní Longphuirt, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Ireland  (sorcha.NiLongphuirt@housing.gov.ie)

Geir Klaveness, Ministry for Climate and Environment, Norway  (geir.klaveness@kld.dep.no)

Telmo Carvalho, Institute for Sea and Atmosphere, Portugal  (telmo.carvalho@ipma.pt)

Marta Hernándezde la Cruz, Ministry for Ecological Transition, Spain  (mhcruz@miteco.es)

Abraham Trujillo Quintela, Spanish State Agency for Research (AEI), Spain  (oceans@aei.gob.es)

Marta Martinez-Gil, Ministry for Ecological Transition, Spain  (mmgil@miteco.es)

Caroline Culshaw, Ocean climate science and evidence for policy, United Kingdom  (caroline.culshaw@defra.gov.uk)

Ian Shepherd, DG Mare, Belgium  (Iain.SHEPHERD@ext.ec.europa.eu)

Frank McGovern, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Ireland  (f.mcgovern@epa.ie)

Steven Dauwe, Flanders Marine Institute, Belgium  (steven.dauwe@vliz.be)

Jun She, Danish Meteorological Institute, Denmark  (js@dmi.dk)

Maurice Heral, Agence Nationale Recherche, France  (maurice.heral@agencerecherche.fr)

Martin Zimmer, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Germany  (martin.zimmer@leibniz-zmt.de)

Eugenia Apostolaki, Helenic Centre for Marine Research, Greece  (eapost@hcmr.gr)

Christophe Pampoulie, Marine and Freshwater Research Institute, Iceland  (christophe.s.pampoulie@hafogvatn.is)

Anthony Grey, Dublin City University, Ireland  (greyanthony@gmail.com)

Chiara Santinelli, CNR Institute of Biophysics Operating Unit of Pisa, Italy  (chiara.santinelli@ibf.cnr.it)

Gianpiero Cossarini, CNR Institute of Biophysics Operating Unit of Pisa, Italy  (gcossarini@ogs.it)

Pierpaolo Campostrini, Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy  (campostrini@corila.it)

Sarah Camilleri, Malta College of Arts, Science & Technology, Malta  (Sarah.Camilleri@mcast.edu.mt)

Adam Gauci, University of Malta, Malta  (adam.gauci@um.edu.mt)

Solrun Skjellum, Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Norway  (solrun.skjellum@niva.no)

Steven Lutz, Grid, Arendal, Norway  (Steven.Lutz@grida.no)

Peter Haugan, University of Bergen, Norway  (peter.haugan@hi.no)

Karol Kuliński, Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland  (kroll@iopan.pl)

Fernando Brun, University of Cadiz, Spain  (fernando.brun@uca.es)

Ruth Parker, CEFAS, United Kingdom  (ruth.parker@cefas.co.uk)

William Austin, St. Andrews University, United Kingdom  (wena@st-andrews.ac.uk)

Thorsten Kiefer, JPI Oceans, Belgium  (thorsten.kiefer@jpi-oceans.eu)

Rui Santos, Algarve University, Portugal  (rosantos@ualg.pt)

Miguel-Ángel Mateo, Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC-CEAB)  (mateo@ceab.csic.es)