The 2018 Blue Carbon Initiative International Conference was held in Weihai, Shandong province on Aug 28. More than 100 relevant experts from 13 countries around the world attended the conference.

Blue Carbon Initiative is jointly launched by Conservation International Foundation, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, which is one of the most influential blue cooperative systems in the world. 

This conference was co-organized by the third Ocean Research Institute of the State Oceanic Administration and the Blue carbon initiative. 

At the conference, Weihai Initiative was released by the third Ocean Research Institute of the State Oceanic Administration, Weihai Municipal Government, Conservation International Foundation, World Conservation Union and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, calling for enhanced researches on offshore aquaculture and micro-organisms in marine carbon cycle and carbon sink function. It has reached consensus on supporting the blue carbon ecological system research, blue carbon policy development and blue carbon international cooperation.

The conference will last until Sept 1. During the conference, experts will share the achievements and experiences they have gathered in blue carbon research, further exchanging the ideas on international blue carbon policy, current situation and greenhouse gas emission reduction and estimation of international blue carbon reserves. They will also hold discussions on the important role of fishery ecosystem and marine microbial carbon pump in Marine carbon sinks and the possibility of incorporating them into blue-carbon ecosystems. 

During the conference, experts will investigate salt algae land of Nanhai New Area on-the-spot.

Blue carbon is the carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems. The Blue Carbon Initiative currently focuses on carbon in coastal ecosystems - mangroves, tidal marshes and sea grasses. These ecosystems sequester and store large quantities of blue carbon in both the plants and the sediment below. For example, over 95 percent of the carbon in sea grass meadows is stored in the soils. Nanhai new area has distinctive advantage in blue carbon development for its quality resources in seaweed, oyster cultivation, sea grass bed and salt marsh wetland ecosystem.

Weihai blue economics institute has been committed to the research of blue carbon. Cooperating with many domestic academician teams and scientific research institutes, it set up Shandong collaborative innovation center of marine carbon asset engineering technology, carrying out carbon storage survey and exploitation. Nanhai new area will further implement the research and development of carbon sink technology, trying to build it into a national blue carbon demonstration zone. 

The 2018 Blue Carbon Initiative International Conference opens in Weihai, Shandong province on Aug 28. [Photo/zhonghongwang.com]

An expert gives a speech during the 2018 Blue Carbon Initiative International Conference, which opened in Weihai, Shandong province on Aug 28. [Photo/zhonghongwang.com]

More than 100 relevant experts from 13 countries around the world attend the 2018 Blue Carbon Initiative International Conference, which opened in Weihai, Shandong province on Aug 28. [Photo/zhonghongwang.com]