Funding will continue to be used to support the overarching goals of the ibcswg advance blue carbon science, particularly as needed to facilitate climate-relevant policy and management, to expand blue…

This federal contract award, with ID 80NSSC19K1627, was granted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the Conservation International Foundation, a non-profit organization. The $99,999.13 grant will be used to support the overarching goals of the International Blue Carbon Scientific Working Group (IBCSWG) in advancing blue carbon science to facilitate climate-relevant policy and management, expand research collaboration, and integrate blue carbon into international climate change actions.

The funding will help coordinate global scientists and coastal managers, determine the viability of integrating additional coastal and marine ecosystems into climate change policy, clarify the impacts of climate change and disturbances on carbon sequestration, and improve global mapping of blue carbon ecosystems. The grant will specifically support a 2020 IBCSWG meeting in Mexico to advance these priorities in the Central American region. No set-aside designation was used for this contract award.

Funding will continue to be used to support the overarching goals of the ibcswg advance blue carbon science, particularly as needed to facilitate climate-relevant policy and management, to expand blue carbon research collaboration, and to ensure the integration of blue carbon into international climate change actions. NASA funding will support the following ibcswg priorities: 1. Coordinating and networking scientists and coastal managers globally to facilitate collaborative research, accelerate exchange of data and blue carbon-related management approaches between regions, and support continued expansion of the growing portfolio of blue carbon projects, 2. Determining the viability and process for integrating coastal and marine ecosystems other than mangrove, seagrasses and tidal marshes into climate change policy approaches and clarifying and accelerating the science necessary to facilitate this process (for example, conservation of macroalgae for climate mitigation), 3. Clarifying and modeling the cumulative impacts of a changing climate (e.g. sea level rise, ocean temperature changes) and anthropogenic disturbances on carbon accumulation in coastal ecosystems in order to develop best management actions to maintain and promote natural carbon sequestration now and in the future, and 4. Improving global cover and time series maps of blue carbon ecosystems to support countries in integrating blue carbon into greenhouse gas accounting and monitoring. The main changes to the proposal include diverting all NASA support to the 2020 ibcswg meeting to be held in mexico in partnership with mexico S national institute of ecology and climate change (INECC) and other regional scientific and conservation organizations. This meeting will be vital for coordinating and supporting work towards achieving the above priorities in the central american region. The workshops will be designed to accelerate scientific advancement of blue carbon as needed to direct and advise climate policy and management. The workshops will also be located and coordinated with regional partners so to address blue carbon science gaps and priorities identified by the ibcswg and recent significant reports and analyses including SOCCR2 and ccars. Mexico was selected for the importance of building coastal carbon science and related conservation capacity in the region, and as a result of the interest shown by the local scientific community to host the ibcswg.