Available online: https://pub.norden.org/temanord2020-541/# Nordic blue forests are coastal vegetated habitats, such as kelp forests, eelgrass meadows and rockweed beds, that are important natural sinks for carbon and thereby climate regulation. They also play an important role in climate adaptation. Simultaneously, blue forests are at high risk from climate change and other human impacts, such as eutrophication and coastal development. This report presents the main findings of the Nordic Blue Carbon Project (2017–2020) on the areal distribution and carbon budget of blue forests (kelp forests, seagrass meadows and rockweed beds) in the Nordic region. We have identified the main ecosystem effects of climate change and other human pressures on Nordic blue forests, tested the effect of moderating some of these pressures, and give scientific advice on management measures aimed at safeguarding these important coastal ecosystems for the future.

This report explores the potential for mitigating the impacts of climate change by improved management and protection of marine ecosystems and especially the vegetated coastal habitat, or blue carbon sinks. The objective of this report is to highlight the critical role of the oceans and ocean ecosystems in maintaining our climate and in assisting policy makers to mainstream an oceans agenda into national and international climate change initiatives. While emissions' reductions are currently at the centre of the climate change discussions, the critical role of the oceans and ocean ecosystems has been vastly overlooked.

This Research Topic will coincide with an international Blue Carbon Conference at the Royal Society of Edinburgh in November 2021, during the UNFCCC COP26 climate negotiations; we seek to showcase Blue Carbon as a Nature-based Solution for Climate Change, People and Biodiversity. The conference theme identifies the growing climate mitigation opportunities presented by Blue Carbon, yet also seeks to highlight the emergent research that points to the wider climate mitigation services of carbon in the marine environment - what we are calling "beyond the inventory". We welcome contributions that address the science and policy dimensions of Blue Carbon, particularly where these highlight opportunities and mechanisms for the protection, restoration and creation of Blue Carbon habitats. We also welcome case-study examples that highlight successful partnerships in a wide range of international settings and would particularly encourage contributions that show-case legal, policy or investment opportunities.

The colour of carbon matters. Green carbon is the carbon stored in the plants and soil of natural ecosystems and is a vital part of the global carbon cycle. This report is the first in a series that examines the role of natural forests in the storage of carbon, the impacts of human land use activities, and the implications for climate change policy nationally and internationally. REDD ("reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation") is now part of the agenda for the "Bali Action Plan" being debated in the lead-up to the Copenhagen climate change conference in 2009. Currently, international rules are blind to the colour of carbon so that the green carbon in natural forests is not recognized, resulting in perverse outcomes including ongoing deforestation and forest degradation, and the conversion of extensive areas of land to industrial plantations. This report examines REDD policy from a green carbon scientific perspective. Subsequent reports will focus on issues concerning the carbon sequestration potential of commercially logged natural forests, methods for monitoring REDD, and the long term implications of forest policy and management for the global carbon cycle and climate change.

Interactions between forests, climatic change and the Earths carbon cycle are complex and represent a challenge for forest managers they are integral to the sustainable management of forests. In this volume, a number of papers are presented that describe some of the complex relationships between climate, the global carbon cycle and forests. Research has demonstrated that these are closely connected, such that changes in one have an influence not only on the other two, but also on their linkages. Climatic change represents a considerable threat to forest management in the current static paradigm. However, carbon sequestration issues offer opportunities for new techniques and strategies, and those able to adapt their management to this changing situation are likely to benefit. Such changes are already underway in countries such as Australia and Costa Rica, but it will probably take much longer for the forestry sector in the Pacific Northwest region of North America (encompassing Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, British Columbia and Alaska) to change their current practices.

The colour of carbon matters. Green carbon is the carbon stored in the plants and soil of natural ecosystems and is a vital part of the global carbon cycle. This report is the first in a series that examines the role of natural forests in the storage of carbon, the impacts of human land use activities, and the implications for climate change policy nationally and internationally. REDD ("reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation") is now part of the agenda for the "Bali Action Plan" being debated in the lead-up to the Copenhagen climate change conference in 2009. Currently, international rules are blind to the colour of carbon so that the green carbon in natural forests is not recognized, resulting in perverse outcomes including ongoing deforestation and forest degradation, and the conversion of extensive areas of land to industrial plantations. This report examines REDD policy from a green carbon scientific perspective. Subsequent reports will focus on issues concerning the carbon sequestration potential of commercially logged natural forests, methods for monitoring REDD, and the long term implications of forest policy and management for the global carbon cycle and climate change.