Maximizing Blue Carbon Potential in Emission Reduction Documents

The potential of the marine sector as an instrument for reducing greenhouse gas emissions or blue carbon has been Indonesia's focus for the last few years. In fact, the potential for blue carbon as part of calculating climate change mitigation targets was carried out by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in 2021 even though at that time it had not been included in the NDC update document.

Also read: Blue Carbon Ecosystem Management Integrated with Climate Change Policy

Indonesia already has a mangrove map with a blue carbon projection of more than 3.3 billion tons. On the other hand, a reduction in annual blue carbon emissions of 10-31 percent provides a great opportunity to accelerate efforts related to climate change mitigation while increasing commitments in the NDC.

Indonesia is striving to maximize the potential for reducing emissions from blue carbon, which is very significant due to its 3.3 million hectares of mangroves and 3 million hectares of seagrass beds. The mangrove area in Indonesia accounts for 23 percent of the world's total mangroves.

However, the loss of mangroves in the last three decades has resulted in significant greenhouse gas emissions. Conversely, studies have revealed that avoiding mangrove conversion could reduce up to 30 percent of national emissions from land use sectors.

The mangrove ecosystem is also known to have a greater ability to store carbon than terrestrial tropical forests. A study conducted by researchers from the University of California-Riverside (UCR) and the University of California-San Diego, United States, showed that mangroves can retain carbon for up to 5,000 years.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, mangrove forests can on average absorb 52.85 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) per hectare per year. This figure is twice as high as the global estimate, namely 26.42 tonnes of CO₂ per hectare per year. The total potential for carbon absorption in Indonesia reaches 170.18 megatons of CO₂ per year.

The emission factor is one of the obstacles in calculating greenhouse gas inventories in the marine sector.

Considering this ability, damaging the mangrove ecosystem will make it difficult to handle carbon emission escalation in the near future. Therefore, one way to prevent global warming and address the climate crisis is by preserving the mangrove ecosystem.

Apart from that, Indonesia is also trying to optimize the potential of blue carbon in mitigating climate change through international carbon trading in accordance with the NDC document. However, optimizing the potential of blue carbon still requires a number of supports, starting from aspects of policy, resources, to coordination.

Last year, the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas and the Indonesian Climate Change Trust Fund (ICCTF), in collaboration with the French Development Agency (AFD), established a partnership regarding the management of blue carbon ecosystems in three locations, namely Juru Seberang (Belitung), Likupang (North Sulawesi), and Raja Ampat (West Papua).

Also read: Second National Emission Reduction Document in Line with 1.5 Degree Celsius Target

This collaborative project aims to integrate blue carbon into national and sub-national policies through the implementation of the Indonesian Blue Carbon Strategic Framework. Another objective is to increase the baseline, inventory and monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) capacity of national and regional stakeholders.

Data constraints

At the Blue Carbon Dialogue some time ago, Laksmi acknowledged that efforts to reduce emissions in the marine sector still face a number of challenges, especially from the aspect of methodology and basic information data (baseline). The absence of baseline data will make it difficult to set emission reduction targets.

In Presidential Regulation Number 98 of 2021 concerning Implementation of the Economic Value of Carbon, efforts to mitigate climate change in the marine sector or blue carbon are carried out by the ministry that handles marine issues, namely the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP). Therefore, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry together with the KKP continue to coordinate regarding baseline data.

According to Laksmi, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry continues to explore ways to obtain baseline data regarding which ecosystems can then be prioritized for inclusion in the second NDC. So, it is possible that the second NDC will only cover one subsector, for example seagrass beds, because mangroves have already been included in the forestry sector.

In addition, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) and the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) are also developing methodologies to calculate emission reductions in the marine sector. This calculation is necessary as an effort to inventory greenhouse gases to see the level of absorption and carbon storage from several blue carbon ecosystems.

According to the explanation of the Director of Small Islands and Marine Spatial Planning at the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Muhammad Yusuf, emission factors are one of the obstacles in calculating greenhouse gas inventories in the maritime sector. For example, emission factors in seagrass ecosystems have highly variable data, making it difficult to use for the inventory process.

As an effort to overcome this barrier, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) has calculated the emission factors if seagrass beds are damaged and conducted scenarios for reducing emissions in seagrass beds. Therefore, KKP will mention the contribution of seagrass beds in reducing emissions.

Calculating emission factors in seagrass meadows is very important because most research that has been done so far has only focused on measuring seagrass biomass. Meanwhile, studies on organic carbon in sediments in seagrass meadow ecosystems are still limited.

Define methodology

Professor of Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Science at IPB University, Luky Adrianto, said that the government needs to establish a methodology used to measure the reduction of emissions in the marine sector or blue carbon. This is because the methodology plays a significant role and is an important aspect that is considered by the global community.

Luky also emphasized that calculating the economic value of carbon in the blue carbon ecosystem must be done carefully. This is to ensure that there is no calculation that exceeds its capacity or also generalizes all the values ​​of the blue ecosystem.

Blue carbon ecosystems, such as mangrove forests, seagrass beds and brackish swamps, are coastal ecosystems that are capable of absorbing and storing large amounts of carbon. Indonesia, as the owner of around 17 percent of global blue carbon reserves, has a great opportunity to trade international carbon sourced from coastal ecosystems.

Also read: Blue Carbon Trading Takes Time

"To use a harsh term, there should be no such thing asblue carbon colonialism because many global players will then want to buy concessions in this ecosystem. "We must convey literacy in the community clearly," he said.