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Saltmarshes play a crucial role as carbon sinks, locking away climate-warming greenhouse gases in layers of mud, according to a recent report by WWF. Despite the loss of much of the UK’s saltmarshes to agriculture, the charity emphasizes their importance in combating climate change. WWF is advocating to include these tidal habitats in the official UK inventory of carbon emissions and removals to encourage the restoration and protection of more sites.
A WWF team, in collaboration with researchers from the UK’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, installed solar-powered greenhouse gas monitoring stations on Hesketh Out Marsh in North-West England. By analyzing gases around the marsh over a year, they discovered that plants absorb more carbon dioxide in the summer than they release in the winter. These findings complement previous studies measuring carbon levels in the marshland’s mud.
As WWF ocean conservation specialist Tom Brook demonstrates, the rapid growth of plants in spring and summer in salt marshes captures carbon in the soil, highlighting the crucial role of these habitats in climate mitigation. The report, titled “The Importance of UK Saltmarshes,” emphasizes the significance of these sites in protecting homes from coastal flooding. Since 1860, the UK has lost approximately 85% of its saltmarshes due to drainage for agricultural purposes.
Restored by the RSPB wildlife charity, Hesketh Out Marsh in North-West England now teems with bird life, including avocets, oyster catchers, and black-tailed godwits. The researchers hope that their findings will support efforts to restore and safeguard more of these essential buffer zones between land and sea. With their variously shaped bills suited for feeding in tidal mud, marshland birds rely on these habitats as crucial service stations. Alex Pigott, the RSPB warden at Hesketh Out Marsh, stresses the importance of these sites as natural flood defenses and carbon stores, underscoring the need to restore and protect these valuable habitats for nature’s benefit
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