Jakarta, Tuesday and Wednesday (October 9-10th 2018), Director of Conservation and Marine Biodiversity together with Marine Research Center, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Oceanography Research Center (Pusat Penelitian Oseanografi-LIPI), Marine and Fisheries Faculty-IPB also WWF-Indonesia, organized the training about blue carbon measurement. Center for Marine Studies, Mathematics and Science Faculty, Universitas Indonesia was invited as one of the participants on the training. This training was part of the Dugong and Seagrass Conservation Project (DSCP) in Indonesia. It would continue to another training that focused on Dugong conservation.
Blue carbon is the carbon captured by the ocean and coastal ecosystems (mangrove, seagrass, reef). The blue carbon training was focused on the seagrass bed ecosystem. For people who is not work in the marine field, seagrass is not that famous like mangrove and reef, but it has a big impact on coastal and pelagic ecosystems because it’s the house for almost all juvenile phases of ocean animal. Together with mangrove and reef, seagrass builds a very strong wall to reduce ocean waves and protect the coastal land area. Both seagrass and mangrove provide to reduce the carbon in the air by keeping it inside their body parts especially their roots inside the substrate so that their role is so important to control climate change.
It is important to know how to measure the carbon by collecting the biomass from seagrass or mangrove. Some researchers, especially in Universitas Indonesia had already concerned about this issue. By joining the training, the Center for Marine Studies tried to help the blue carbon research not only in Universitas Indonesia but also collaborate with other institutions.
