Australia’s vast carbon sink releasing millions of tonnes of CO2 back into atmosphere

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Exposing the Big Game's avatarThe Extinction Chronicles

Australia’s mangroves and seagrass meadows absorb 20m tonnes of CO2 a year but report warns damage to ecosystems contributing to climate change

Mangroves at high tide on the western side of Curtis Island on the Queensland coast=
 Mangroves at high tide on the western side of Curtis Island on the Queensland coast. Australia’s vast coastlines represent 5%-11% of all the so called ‘blue carbon’ locked up in mangroves, seagrasses and tidal marshes globally. Photograph: Matthew Abbott/The Guardian

Australia’s mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows are absorbing about 20m tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, according to a major new study that is the first to measure in detail the climate benefits of the coastal ecosystems.

But the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, warns that degradation of these “vegetated coastal ecosystems” was already seeing 3 million tonnes of CO2 per year being released back into the atmosphere.

The study reveals Australia’s vast coastlines represent between 5% and 11%…

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