The Impact of blue carbon on climate change, case study seagrass bed on Puntondo Beach, Takalar District, South Sulawesi

Abstract

Blue carbon is a term for carbon captured by marine and coastal ecosystems, which is able to minimize the impact of climate change. This research aims to examine the impact of blue carbon in seagrass bed on climate change. This research involves secondary data which is the climate data for over the past 5 years, area of seagrass bed, and carbon stock in seagrass over the past 4 years, and the primary data collection techniques using the transect square method. The carbon analysis applied seagrass biomass conversion formula and organic matter conversion. Where the carbon estimation results shows the total of seagrass carbon stock and its sediment is 118,378 MgC/Ha. Furthermore, correlation analysis is employed to ascertain the relationship between carbon storage and climatic variables. The results showed that blue carbon gives a significant impact toward climate change. Based on the correlation table, carbon storage has an impact on rainfall of 0.85, while the impact of carbon storage on temperature is lower, at 0.61. This result shows that carbon stock in seagrass bed on Puntondo Beach has a stronger correlation with rainfall variable rather than average temperature. Therefore, serious efforts are needed for conservation and restoration of seagrass ecosystem conditions in the Puntondo Beach location to minimize the impact of climate change.