The initiative aims at achieving the following overall targets by 2025:- Reversing the current trend of the degradation of marine and coastal habitats and maintaining the amount of carbon sequestration;- Significantly increasing the area of Blue Carbon ecosystems under effective ecosystem-based management; and- Mobilising US$40 million for protecting and rehabilitating coastal and marine habitats, thus enhancing their capacity for carbon storage and sequestration.(source: http://www.unep.org/ecosystemmanagement/Portals/7/Documents/factsheets/BlueCarbonInitiativeFactSheet.pdf)

UNEP’s Blue Carbon Initiative aims to develop a global partnership to advance the sound management of coastal and marine ecosystems in order to ensure that their carbon sequestration and storage functions are maintained, and emissions of greenhouse gases are avoided. Furthermore, ecosystem-based management of Blue Carbon sinks should be appropriately incorporated into global climate change mitigation discussions and financing schemes. It supports the development both of global, regional and national policies for ecosystem management and of possible financial instruments to maintain and enhance sequestration in Blue Carbon ecosystems.Its proposed key elements are:1. Developing methodologies, standardized around the world, for carbon accounting and economic valuation of ecosystem services in coastal blue carbon ecosystems;2. Using these methodologies in a range of small-scale interventions;3. Filling gaps in our knowledge of ecosystem services and of carbon sequestration and fluxes in blue carbon ecosystems;4. Exploring how the international community can adopt the methodologies to influence international climate frameworks and create incentives for protecting ecosystem services and carbon sequestration.These objectives are aligned with the UNEP Marine and Coastal Strategy under its stream on Ecosystems for Human Well-being.(source: http://www.unep.org/ecosystemmanagement/Portals/7/Documents/factsheets/BlueCarbonInitiativeFactSheet.pdf)

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Conservation International International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) Tropical Agriculture Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) Fundacao Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG) ESA-PWA Instituto Mediterraneo de Estudios Avanzados and The University of Western Australia Silvestrum Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines Florida International University USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center Research Center for Coastal and Marine Resources (KKP) Bates College Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute Oregon State University School of Ocean Science, Bangor University University of Queensland Research Council of Spain at the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies Smithsonian Institution University of South Carolina Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) Indiana University University of Technology Sydney The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) New South Whales (NSW) Office of Environment and Heritage National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Agency for Marine Fisheries and Research, Indonesia; Arafura and Timor Seas Expert Forum (ATSEF)