Searching for solutions for carbon sequestration in coastal ecosystems - sea4soCiety

sea4soCiety aims at developing innovative and societally accepted approaches to improve the natural potential for carbon storage in coastal ecosystems. sea4soCiety is one of six research consortia within the research mission “Marine carbon sinks in decarbonization pathways” of the German Marine Research Alliance (DAM). The project will determine the blue carbon potential of coastal ecosystems along the Wadden Sea and Baltic Sea coasts (focusing on saltmarsh, seagrass, and seaweed) as well as in tropical Colombia and Indonesia (focusing on mangroves, saltmarsh, and seagrass).

sea4soCiety is a consortium of ten research institutions across northern Germany. The Hamburg part of the project integrates plant ecology (Dept. of Biology, PIs: Peter Mueller/Kai Jensen) and socio-economics (Dept. of Geography, PI: Beate Ratter). This includes the quantification of the carbon-storage capacity and greenhouse-gas dynamics of different coastal ecosystem types and assessing their stability against climate change. In a transdisciplinary approach, the social acceptance of carbon storage and related economic development potentials for a sustainable, regional economic development in coastal communities are analyzed in cooperation with stakeholders and decision makers. The overall aim is to provide synergies and trade-offs of ecosystem-based coastal services and contribute to societal risk assessment.

Newly developing salt marsh behind a line of brushwood groynes at Hamburger Hallig, Germany

Project partners:

AWI: Dr. Mar Fernandez-Mendez, Dr. Ketil Koop-Jakobsen; GEOMAR: Dr. David Keller, Prof. Dr. Klaus Wallmann; ICBM: Prof. Dr. Thorsten Dittmar, Dr. Michael Seidel; MPI Bremen; Dr. Manuel Liebeke; Uni Bremen: Prof. Dr. Kai Bischof, Prof. Dr. Jan-Hendrik Hehemann; Uni Hamburg: Prof. Dr. Beate Ratter, Prof. Dr. Kai Jensen, Dr. Peter Mueller. Uni Hannover: Dr. Maike Paul; Uni Kiel: Prof. Dr. Nele Matz-Lück, Prof. Dr. Natascha Oppelt, Prof. Dr. Katrin Rehdanz, Dr. Jens Schneider von Deimling

Project lead Uni Hamburg:

Prof. Dr. Beate Ratter, Prof. Dr. Kai Jensen, Dr. Peter Mueller