Gg C year
–1
(Xiaonana et al., 2008). Andrews et al. (2008) cal- aquatic habitats (Duarte 2009; Waycott et al., 2009). For in-
culated that the net effect of returning of returning some 26 stance, some countries in SE Asia have lost almost 90% of
sq km of reclaimed land in the UK to intertidal environments their mangroves since the 1940s (Valiela et al., 2001). Large-
could result in the burial of about 800 t C year
−1
. scale restoration projects have been successfully conducted for
mangroves. The single largest effort probably being the affor-
A first step is the protection of these important blue carbon sink estation of the Mekong Delta forest in Vietnam, completely de-
habitats, already in place in many countries (e.g. EU members, stroyed by the use of Agent Orange in the 1970’s and replant-
USA, among others). This involves the regulation of activities ed by the Vietnamese people (Arnaud-Haond et al., in press).
responsible for their global loss, including coastal reclamation, Salt-marsh restoration is also possible and has been applied
deforestation of mangrove forests, excess fertilizer application largely in Europe and the USA (e.g. Boorman and Hazelden
on land crops and inputs of urban organic waste, siltation de- 1995). Restoring lost seagrass meadows is more complex, as
rived from deforestation on land, unsustainable fishing and fix- the labour required to insert transplants under the water in-
ing of coastlines through coastal development (Duarte, 2002; creases cost. Seagrass restoration projects have consequently
2009). Best practices for the management of blue carbon sinks remained comparatively limited in size (a few hectares) and
are available to help maintain these ecosystems healthy while number. However it is a viable option provided the benefits of
preserving their functions (e.g. Borum et al., 2004; Hamilton seagrass restoration can be used strategically, for example to
and Snedaker 1984; Melana et al., 2000). catalyze the great potential for natural recovery. This is a slow
process when unassisted (Duarte et al., 2005b), so has to be
A second step should involve efforts for the large-scale resto- supported in parallel with actions to remove the pressures that
ration of the lost area, which is probably of the same order caused the loss in the first place. Such efforts would provide
(if not larger) than the area currently still covered by these initial sources of growth and subsequently benefit from the
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