World-first research says restoring Australia's damaged wetlands and coastal vegetation would have the same effect on climate change as taking over four million cars off the road.
That gas known as "blue carbon" is the carbon captured by the world's coastal ocean ecosystems.
Oscar Serrano, a Research Fellow from the Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research at Edith Cowan University, is the paper's lead author.
He says despite the protections Australia already has on many of these coastal ecosystems, they're still being lost to coastal development and the effects of climate change.
Furthermore, says Dr Serrano, those losses are themselves causing CO2 emissions -- an estimated two to three million tonnes of it every year.
Vegetated coastal ecosystems suck in carbon dioxide up to 40 times faster than inland forests.
A study earlier this year found extreme climate events damaged more than 8,000 kilometres of marine ecosystems along Australia’s coast between 2011 and 2017.
Dr Serrano says there are at least two main potential benefits to restoring the damaged areas.
"We realise that if we restore these ecosystems that have been lost since European settlement and rapidly over the last decades, we could not only mitigate climate change and avoid emissions from these ecosystems, but also there is a potential market in there of carbon credits. There is a potential to engage with investors to conserve and preserve," Dr Serrano said.
Andy Steven is the Coasts Research Director at the CSIRO, Australia's national science agency.
He says Australia is estimated to have 10-12 per cent of the world's blue carbon stocks, and being aware of that when making policy decisions would have big advantages.
The research predicts restoring coastal areas could also create more than $16 million worth of carbon credits* per year in payments from the Australian Emission Reduction Fund and voluntary carbon markets.
Dr Steven says the research could inspire people to invest in projects protecting blue carbon ecosystems.
