The ability of vegetated coastal ecosystems to sequester high rates of “blue” carbon over millennial time scales has attracted the interest of national and international policy makers as a tool for climate change mitigation. Whereas focus on blue carbon conservation has been mostly on threatened rural seascapes, there is scope to consider blue carbon dynamics along highly fragmented and developed urban coastlines. The tropical city state of Singapore is used as a case study of urban blue carbon knowledge generation, how blue carbon changes over time with urban development, and how such knowledge can be integrated into urban planning alongside municipal and national climate change obligations. A systematic review of blue carbon studies in Singapore was used to support a qualitative review of Singapore’s blue carbon ecosystems, carbon budget, changes through time and urban planning and policy. Habitat loss across all blue carbon ecosystems is coarsely estimated to have resulted in the release of ∼12.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide since the beginning of the 20th century. However, Singapore’s remaining blue carbon ecosystems still store an estimated 568,971 – 577,227 tonnes of carbon (equivalent to 2.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide) nationally, with a small proportion of initial loss offset by habitat restoration. Carbon is now a key topic on the urban development and planning agenda, as well as nationally through Singapore’s contributions to the Paris Agreement. The experiences of Singapore show that coastal ecosystems and their blue carbon stocks can be successfully managed along an urban coastline, and can help inform blue carbon science and management along other rapidly urbanizing coastlines throughout the tropics.
Friess D.A., Gatt Y.M., Fung T.K., Alemu J.B., Bhatia N., Case R., Chua S.C., Huang D., Kwan V., Lim K.E., Nathan Y., Ow Y.X., Saavedra-Hortua D., Sloey T.M., Yando E.S., Ibrahim H., Koh L.P., Puah J.Y., Teo S.L.-M., Tun K., Wong L.W. and Yaakub S.M. (2022) Blue carbon science, management and policy across a tropical urban landscape. 230: 104610. 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104610
@article{Friess2022,
Title = {Blue carbon science, management and policy across a tropical urban landscape},
Author = {Friess, Daniel A. and Gatt, Yasmine M. and Fung, Tze Kwan and Alemu, Jahson B. and Bhatia, Natasha and Case, Rebecca and Chua, Siew Chin and Huang, Danwei and Kwan, Valerie and Lim, Kiah Eng and Nathan, Yudhishthra and Ow, Yan Xiang and Saavedra-Hortua, Daniel and Sloey, Taylor M. and Yando, Erik S. and Ibrahim, Hassan and Koh, Lian Pin and Puah, Jun Yu and Teo, Serena Lay-Ming and Tun, Karenne and Wong, Lynn Wei and Yaakub, Siti Maryam},
Editor = {},
Year = {2022},
Pages = {104610},
Volume = {230},
Doi = {10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104610},
Abstract = {The ability of vegetated coastal ecosystems to sequester high rates of “blue” carbon over millennial time scales has attracted the interest of national and international policy makers as a tool for climate change mitigation. Whereas focus on blue carbon conservation has been mostly on threatened rural seascapes, there is scope to consider blue carbon dynamics along highly fragmented and developed urban coastlines. The tropical city state of Singapore is used as a case study of urban blue carbon knowledge generation, how blue carbon changes over time with urban development, and how such knowledge can be integrated into urban planning alongside municipal and national climate change obligations. A systematic review of blue carbon studies in Singapore was used to support a qualitative review of Singapore’s blue carbon ecosystems, carbon budget, changes through time and urban planning and policy. Habitat loss across all blue carbon ecosystems is coarsely estimated to have resulted in the release of ∼12.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide since the beginning of the 20th century. However, Singapore’s remaining blue carbon ecosystems still store an estimated 568,971 – 577,227 tonnes of carbon (equivalent to 2.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide) nationally, with a small proportion of initial loss offset by habitat restoration. Carbon is now a key topic on the urban development and planning agenda, as well as nationally through Singapore’s contributions to the Paris Agreement. The experiences of Singapore show that coastal ecosystems and their blue carbon stocks can be successfully managed along an urban coastline, and can help inform blue carbon science and management along other rapidly urbanizing coastlines throughout the tropics.},
}
TY - JOUR
AU - Friess, Daniel A.
AU - Gatt, Yasmine M.
AU - Fung, Tze Kwan
AU - Alemu, Jahson B.
AU - Bhatia, Natasha
AU - Case, Rebecca
AU - Chua, Siew Chin
AU - Huang, Danwei
AU - Kwan, Valerie
AU - Lim, Kiah Eng
AU - Nathan, Yudhishthra
AU - Ow, Yan Xiang
AU - Saavedra-Hortua, Daniel
AU - Sloey, Taylor M.
AU - Yando, Erik S.
AU - Ibrahim, Hassan
AU - Koh, Lian Pin
AU - Puah, Jun Yu
AU - Teo, Serena Lay-Ming
AU - Tun, Karenne
AU - Wong, Lynn Wei
AU - Yaakub, Siti Maryam
TI - Blue carbon science, management and policy across a tropical urban landscape
PY - 2022
SP - 104610
VL - 230
DO - 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104610
AB - The ability of vegetated coastal ecosystems to sequester high rates of “blue” carbon over millennial time scales has attracted the interest of national and international policy makers as a tool for climate change mitigation. Whereas focus on blue carbon conservation has been mostly on threatened rural seascapes, there is scope to consider blue carbon dynamics along highly fragmented and developed urban coastlines. The tropical city state of Singapore is used as a case study of urban blue carbon knowledge generation, how blue carbon changes over time with urban development, and how such knowledge can be integrated into urban planning alongside municipal and national climate change obligations. A systematic review of blue carbon studies in Singapore was used to support a qualitative review of Singapore’s blue carbon ecosystems, carbon budget, changes through time and urban planning and policy. Habitat loss across all blue carbon ecosystems is coarsely estimated to have resulted in the release of ∼12.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide since the beginning of the 20th century. However, Singapore’s remaining blue carbon ecosystems still store an estimated 568,971 – 577,227 tonnes of carbon (equivalent to 2.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide) nationally, with a small proportion of initial loss offset by habitat restoration. Carbon is now a key topic on the urban development and planning agenda, as well as nationally through Singapore’s contributions to the Paris Agreement. The experiences of Singapore show that coastal ecosystems and their blue carbon stocks can be successfully managed along an urban coastline, and can help inform blue carbon science and management along other rapidly urbanizing coastlines throughout the tropics.
ER -
