Blue carbon ecosystems—mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrasses—are among the planet’s most powerful nature-based solutions for climate mitigation and adaptation.

Integrating blue carbon into national climate policy through nationally determined contributions and national adaptation plans is essential to realize their full potential. Although scientific methodologies and implementation experience have matured, the incorporation of blue carbon ecosystems into national greenhouse gas inventories and adaptation strategies remains limited. Countries face challenges including data gaps and institutional coordination. However, where blue carbon ecosystems have been included in national climate policies, these policies have helped mobilize political will, finance, and policy reform for blue carbon ecosystem conservation and restoration.

This paper presents a four-stage framework to guide policymakers, technical experts, and implementation partners in the effective integration of blue carbon ecosystems into national climate strategies. The framework seeks to guide stakeholders through the technical, institutional, and financial challenges that countries continue to report as barriers to the systematic inclusion of blue carbon ecosystems in national climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Stages of blue carbon ecosystem integration:

The four stages of the BLUE framework are Build foundational awareness, data, and enabling policies; Link BCEs to existing national plans and sectoral strategies; Unlock finance and cross-sector strategies for scale; and Embed evaluation, monitoring, and adaptive management across all stages.

This working paper was made possible through the support of Oceans 5. Oceans 5 is a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.