The Private Institute for Climate Change Research -ICC-, began with the processes to research about blue carbon in the Sipacate Naranjo Park.
This investigation will allows us to know more about the capacity of mangroves to store carbon (CO2) and it will be made throughout this year. The investigation will be carried out by Carlos Rodriguez, student of the Masters’ degree in Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change at the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE), Costa Rica.
What is blue carbon?
Blue carbon refers to the potential that marine coastal ecosystems have to store carbon, which can be used as tools to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Mangroves, salt marshes, and sea grasses are some of the elements that are considered within the marine coastal ecosystems. (Miguel Cifuentes, Catie, 2015).
As the very same Cifuentes quoted in 2017, the marine coastal ecosystems, particularly mangroves, store and capture considerable amounts of atmospheric carbon, or blue carbon, which contributes to face the global warming challenge. Also, they provide essential services such as coastal protection, as well as the habitat for fish that are of the benefit of coastal and islander communities across the world.
The ICC in Sipacate – Naranjo
The ICC has performed several investigations and has executed several projects in the Sipacate Naranjo area. The project “Adaptation to climate change through strengthening livelihood associated to mangrove ecosystems and cloud forest in the Pacific Slope of Guatemala” was executed from October 2014 to October 2015, and promoted the adaptation based on ecosystems in the communities that are close by cloud forests and mangroves in the Pacific slopes of Guatemala.
The project Elaboration of a Technical Study, Law Initiative, RAMSAR Information Sheet, and Master plan for the Marine-Coastal Conservation Area Sipacate Naranjo, is developed in the area since February 2016.
