Macreadie, Peter I., Biddulph, George E., Masque, Pere, Kennedy, Hilary, Samper-Villarreal, Jimena, Megonigal, J. Patrick, Morrissette, Hannah K., Romero-Gonzalez, Tania E., Hatje, Vanessa, Friedrich, Jana, Sasmito, Sigit D., Watanabe, Kenta, Mazarrasa, Ines, Krause-Jensen, Dorte, Adams, Janine B., Cifuentes-Jara, Miguel, Arias-Ortiz, Ariane, Rovai, Andre S., Stankovic, Milica, Isensee, Kirsten, Queiros, Anna M., Chen, Luzhen, Herrera-Silveira, Jorge, Hurd, Catriona L., Ismail, Rashid, Krauss, Ken W., Lafratta, Anna, Palacios, Maria, and Austin, William E.N. (2026) Priority questions for the next decade of blue carbon science. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 10. pp. 751-764.

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Abstract

Blue carbon ecosystems, classically defined as mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses, but increasingly expanded to include ecosystems such as tidal flats, macroalgal forests and shelf sediments, contribute to climate change mitigation and biodiversity support. Here, seven years after the last global assessment of research priorities, we conducted a priority-setting exercise to identify persistent knowledge and implementation gaps, and the strategic priorities that must be addressed to enable scalable, high-integrity and equitable management of blue carbon ecosystems in a rapidly evolving policy and finance landscape. The highest priority focuses on managing blue carbon ecosystems to support coastal communities while integrating traditional ecological knowledge, emphasizing the essential role of social legitimacy and equity in enabling scalable, long-lasting outcomes. Additional priorities focus on developing cost-effective restoration methods, improving the accuracy of greenhouse gas flux estimates, quantifying the impacts of human activities on carbon cycling and integrating co-benefits such as biodiversity and coastal protection into natural capital frameworks. Emerging technologies like remote sensing, machine learning and data-sharing platforms are also highlighted as transformative tools to fill knowledge gaps and scale solutions. Collectively, these priorities highlight the complexity of blue carbon science and the need for inclusive interdisciplinary approaches that support the resilience and livelihoods of coastal communities.

Item ID:	91222
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2397-334X
Copyright Information:	This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Date Deposited:	22 Apr 2026 01:33
FoR Codes:	41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4102 Ecological applications > 410299 Ecological applications not elsewhere classified @ 100%
SEO Codes:	19 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL HAZARDS > 1903 Mitigation of climate change > 190301 Climate change mitigation strategies @ 100%
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