Unlocking the Potential of Blue Carbon Ecosystems Through National Climate Policy

This research paper by the World Resources Institute proposes the BLUE framework to help countries integrate blue carbon ecosystems—specifically mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrasses—into national climate strategies such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) to overcome data and institutional barriers.

• Blue carbon ecosystems, comprising mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrasses, serve as highly effective nature-based solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation. While scientific methods have improved, their inclusion in national adaptation strategies and greenhouse gas inventories is still limited due to institutional coordination issues and data gaps.
• The paper introduces the BLUE framework, a four-stage stepwise approach designed to help policymakers and technical experts navigate financial, institutional, and technical barriers to scale conservation and restoration efforts. The stages are: Build (foundational awareness, data, and policies), Link (connecting ecosystems to national plans and sectoral strategies), Unlock (securing finance and cross-sector strategies), and Embed (implementing monitoring, evaluation, and adaptive management).
• Integrating blue carbon ecosystems into national climate policies has been shown to facilitate the mobilization of policy reform, finance, and political will for the restoration and conservation of these ecosystems.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Unlocking the Potential of Blue Carbon Ecosystems Through National Climate Policy. https://www.wri.org/research/unlocking-potential-blue-carbon-ecosystems-national-climate-policy

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Unlocking the Potential of Blue Carbon Ecosystems Through National Climate Policy. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/unlocking-potential-blue-carbon-ecosystems-national-climate-policy.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Unlocking the Potential of Blue Carbon Ecosystems Through National Climate Policy |url=https://www.wri.org/research/unlocking-potential-blue-carbon-ecosystems-national-climate-policy |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendunlocking, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Unlocking the Potential of Blue Carbon Ecosystems Through National Climate Policy}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/unlocking-potential-blue-carbon-ecosystems-national-climate-policy}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }