Lead institution:
University of Oviedo – Spain
Coastal marine carbon sinks, like salt marshes or seagrass beds, mitigate climate change and associated health challenges. They are menaced from acidification, urbanization, industrial development, littering & pollution, biopollutants.
We will create a network of participatory science groups in diverse latitudes in Africa, America, Europe and Oceania, for adopting unprotected and RAMSAR-protected coastal carbon sinks for study and care. Local Observatories will be created with stakeholders and the civil society. The scientists groups will take environmental and biota data from the adopted sites to early detect acidification, pollution and health and biological threats. They will clean the sites; publish and make public the data, celebrating their improvement in annual community fests. Through the Observatory, the local community will help to solve the problems and envisage realistic restoration plans to improve the status of the adopted sites, enhancing ocean literacy and awareness.
Start Date: 01/01/2026
End Date: 31/01/2026
Lead Contact: Eva Garcia-Vazquez (egv@uniovi.es)