From local roots to global branches: making NDCs work for Blue Carbon at three different levels

红树林、潮汐沼泽和海草床是支持野生动物、保护海岸线和为数百万人提供生计的美丽栖息地。它们也是非常强大的天然碳汇；因此，它们被称为蓝碳栖息地。根据巴黎气候变化协议，签署国有义务每五年提交一次国家自主贡献（NDCs）。这些文件详细规定了各国减少温室气体排放的承诺。拥有大量蓝碳栖息地的发展中国家可以将这些地区的管理、保护、恢复和扩大作为其国家自主贡献的一部分，因为蓝碳栖息地能够捕获大量的碳，当它们被破坏时，这些碳会以二氧化碳的形式释放出来。因此，国家自主贡献进程为蓝碳栖息地的全球保护和可持续管理提供了一个新的机会，以造福依赖它们的人类和野生动物，并造福于气候。然而，将蓝碳纳入国家自主贡献可能很困难，并且可能给现有的保护项目带来问题。这是一个依赖发展中国家不常见的专门知识的技术过程。如果政府决定将他们所有的蓝碳栖息地包括在内，这可能会干扰已经成功运行的项目，将资金从地方人民转移到中央官僚机构。因此，将蓝碳纳入国家自主贡献提供了一个重大机遇，但也存在技术和资源方面的挑战，以及自上而下控制不当的风险。本地根和全球分支项目团队在地方、国家和国际层面的蓝碳生态、管理和政策方面具有独特的专业知识。我们包括开发了世界领先的当地红树林保护项目的专家，他们帮助改变了国家实践，他们研究了国际政策议程并确定了全球机会。我们将运用这些专业知识实现以下目标：1)研究、记录和传播蓝碳栖息地社区项目的最佳实践，与肯尼亚的一个新项目合作，该项目将成为当地实施国家自主贡献的生活模式。2)与肯尼亚政府合作，以对当地需求和机会敏感的方式将蓝碳纳入其国家自主贡献，作为其他国家的案例研究。3)在国家自主贡献和蓝碳中，为其他发展中国家以及当地保护项目的开发者和支持者制定和传播最佳实践指南，以鼓励地方、国家和国际实践和政策之间的良好协调和支持。我们的工作将对肯尼亚当地社区（我们的重点项目所在地）、肯尼亚政府和人民（因为我们的目标是直接帮助他们准备国家自主贡献）产生直接影响。它还将作为其他发展中国家的榜样，产生更广泛的间接影响，我们将在适当的国际论坛上积极传播所吸取的经验教训。我们的项目合作伙伴是：肯尼亚林业局——肯尼亚负责红树林保护的主要机构。拯救我们的红树林！-由包括世界自然基金会和世界自然保护联盟在内的非政府组织领导的旨在实现全球红树林保护的国际运动。计划Vivo基金会-慈善机构，专门支持基于社区的森林保护项目。此外，我们还有包括肯尼亚海洋和渔业研究所、世界自然保护联盟、海岸生态系统服务协会、爱丁堡纳皮尔大学和新加坡国立大学在内的利益相关者。关键词：蓝碳，气候变化，红树林，政策，社区利益，肯尼亚，国家自主贡献

Mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass beds are beautiful habitats that support wildlife, protect coastlines and provide livelihoods to millions of people. They are also very powerful natural carbon sinks; for this reason they are known as Blue Carbon habitats. Under the Paris climate change agreement, signatories are obliged to submit Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) every five years. These detail the commitments of the countries to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Developing nations that have significant areas of Blue Carbon habitats could include the management, conservation, restoration and expansion of these areas as part of their NDCs, because Blue Carbon habitats are able to trap large amounts of carbon which is released as carbon dioxide when they are destroyed. Hence the NDC process offers a new opportunity to work towards the global conservation and sustainable management of Blue Carbon habitats, for the benefit of the people and wildlife who rely on them and for the climate.Incorporating Blue Carbon into NDCs may be difficult, however, and could bring problems to existing conservation projects. It is a technical process relying on expertise not common in developing countries. If governments decide to include all their Blue Carbon habitats, that may interfere with projects already running successfully, diverting funds from local people to central bureaucracies. Hence incorporating Blue Carbon into NDCs offers a major opportunity but has technical and resource challenges as well as risks of inappropriate top-down control.The local roots and global branches project team brings unique expertise in Blue Carbon ecology, management and policy at local, national and international levels. We include experts who have developed world leading local mangrove conservation projects, who have helped changed national practice and who have studied the international policy agenda and identified global opportunities. We will apply this expertise to achieve the following objectives:1) To research, document and disseminate best practice for community based projects in Blue Carbon habitats, working with a new project in Kenya that will act as a living model for local implementation of NDCs.2) To work with the Government of Kenya in incorporating Blue Carbon into their NDCs in ways that are sensitive to local needs and opportunities, as a case study for other nations.3) To develop and disseminate best practice guidelines for other developing nations, and for the developers and supporters of local conservation projects, in NDCs and Blue Carbon to encourage good co-ordination and support between local, national and international practice and policy.Our work will have direct impact on the local community in Kenya (where our focal project is based) and the Kenyan government and people (since we aim to directly assist them in preparation of their NDCs). It will also have broader, indirect impact by acting as a model for other developing countries and we will actively disseminate lessons learned at appropriate international fora. Our project partners are:Kenya Forest Service - the lead Kenyan agency with responsibility for mangrove conservation.Save Our Mangroves Now! - an international campaign led by NGOs including World Wildlife Fund and IUCN aiming to achieve global mangrove conservation.Plan Vivo Foundation - charity specializing in supporting community based forest conservation projects. In addition we have stakeholders including the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, IUCN, the Association for Coastal Ecosystem Services, Edinburgh Napier University and the National University of Singapore.Keywords: Blue Carbon, climate change, mangroves, policy, community benefit, Kenya, Nationally Determined Contributions