The first concrete proof that marine conservation slows climate change is found by scientists.
Marine protected areas safeguard the oceans, seas, and estuaries.
These areas aid in the preservation of the wildlife and vegetation unique to these waterways, but protected areas have many benefits that extend well beyond their borders.
In a paper that was just released in the journal One Earth, a team of scientists explains how marine protected areas enhance ecological and social adaptation to climate change and aid in
Marine protected areas are becoming more and more popular as an ocean-based climate solution.
Due to the fragmented and poorly integrated literature on the benefits of marine protected areas for the climate, these statements continue to be debatable, the scientists conclude.
We conducted a thorough literature assessment of 22,403 publications covering 241 marine protected areas in order to fill this information gap.
The researchers found that carbon sequestration dramatically improved in locations with maritime protection for seagrass, mangroves, and areas where silt wasn’t trawled.
They conclude that even minor human impacts result in significant carbon releases since “partial or complete deterioration of mangroves and seagrass both resulted in equivalent losses of stored carbon.”
Additionally to increasing carbon sequestration, conserved habitats enhanced species richness, biodiversity, and showed advantages for humans.
Fish stocks in the waters nearby marine protected areas increased, and these areas had higher food security.
The benefits of these protected areas for mitigation and adaptation, according to the authors, were only fully realised under extremely high levels of protection, and they grew the longer a region was protected.
Only full and high levels of protection produced benefits for mitigation or adaptation across all four routes considered, the authors wrote.
However, low levels of protection had no beneficial effects.
Furthermore, only fully protected regions, where fishing is prohibited, saw gains in species richness and fishers’ revenue.
