Britain’s saltmarshes are vital “sinks,” capable of locking away climate-warming greenhouse gases in layers of mud, a new report from the WWF has found. Many of these saltmarshes have been lost to agriculture but the wildlife charity has hailed the role they play in nature’s battle against climate change.
It is calling on them to be added to the official UK inventory of how much carbon is emitted and removed from the atmosphere every year. A formal recognition would lead to a greater incentive to restore and protect more saltmarshes in the future.
Working with researchers from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, a team from the WWF installed solar-powered greenhouse gas monitors on Hesketh Out Marsh in the North-West of England. Analysing gases in the air that flows around the marsh over a year, it found that the plants take in more CO2 in the summer than they release in the winter.
The WWF published its results in a report titled The Importance of Saltmarshes, co-published with an insurance company that hopes to better understand how these sites play a part in shielding homes from coastal flooding.
Since 1860, the UK has lost 85% of its saltmarshes, being drained for agriculture as they were considered to be useless land.
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