![]() This has laid bare the old arguments that rapid adaptation is not possible at the scale needed to reduce the threats of climate change. Governments and industries have been able to adapt rapidly and radically to mitigate the worldwide pandemic risk to societies. ![]() International lockdowns revealed the positive effects of reduced anthropogenic disturbance on natural ecosystems. The pandemic has shaken a number of assumptions common to modern societies regarding the relationship between people and the natural world-an extractive view of nature-exemplifying the high cost and great vulnerability inherent in this outdated mentality. There is a dire need for a change in societal mindsets toward those that recognize nature as invaluable to our economic well-being. To date, conservation appeals have not attracted investment in natural capital at the level needed, nor have appeals to focus on mitigating the effects of the climate crisis. There is an increased awareness of the severe impact of damage to the natural world on social and economic well-being, and a growing urgency in calls to make (or demand) changes that will put societies on a more sustainable path. The current climate change crisis is threatening economies as it is accelerating losses of marine biodiversity and habitats ( Bindoff et al., 2019). ![]() The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and its global human and economic repercussions brings to the fore the recognition that the sustainability of our economic systems very much depends on the sustainability of ecosystems and biodiversity. Conserving, protecting, and restoring Blue Carbon ecosystems should become an integral part of mitigation and carbon stock conservation plans at the local, national and global levels. Efforts to identify and resolve these challenges could both maintain and harness the potential for these natural ocean systems to store carbon and help fight climate change. We also highlight the challenges-such as valuation and governance-to marshaling their mitigation role and discuss the need for policy action for natural capital market development, and for global coordination. In this paper, we discuss Blue Carbon resources in coastal, open-ocean and deep-sea ecosystems and highlight the benefits of measures such as restoration and creation as well as conservation and protection in helping to unleash their potential for mitigating climate change risks. In terms of Blue Carbon, the report mainly focused on coastal wetlands and did not address the socio-economic considerations of using natural ocean systems to reduce the risks of climate disruption. The potential for Blue Carbon ecosystems to combat climate change and provide co-benefits was discussed in the recent and influential Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.
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