Here’s an amazing reason surf spots need to be saved: according to a highly-respected scientific study, forests, marshes and mangroves surrounding the world’s surf breaks absorb 88.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.
That’s the equivalent to 77 million car emissions every year – more than 1% of annual global energy-related pollution.
The type of carbon sequestered around surf breaks is significant, according to the peer-reviewed paper published this month in the journal Conservation Science and Practice .
Like the numerous surf breaks themselves, just five countries store nearly half the carbon: surf breaks in the USA are the most carbon-rich, followed by Australia, Indonesia, Brazil and Panama.
“Irrecoverable carbon” refers to the carbon-rich lands surfers, environmentalists and governments themselves must protect to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. Conservation International scientists coined the term in 2020 and, in 2021, while mapping all irrecoverable carbon around the world. Additional research also found irrecoverable carbon areas overlap with places containing high concentrations of biodiversity.
Related: Uluwatu Concrete Seawall Construction Underway, and the Video Is Alarming
Expanding protection of surf ecosystems could help keep climate-warming carbon from entering the atmosphere and play a role in halting and reversing biodiversity loss – the world’s two greatest environmental challenges. For example, Surf Protected Areas – which have been pioneered by Conservation International and Save The Waves Coalition, a partner on the study – work to establish legal protections for surf breaks and their surrounding areas from threats like irresponsible tourism and development, forest and mangrove cutting, coral and sand mining, destructive fishing and plastic pollution.
“This research demonstrates the enormous role that protection of surf breaks and surrounding coastal areas can have in our global fight to reverse biodiversity loss and combat climate change,” said Scott Atkinson, a surfer, senior director of surf conservation at Conservation International and an author of the study. “Our study shows where, exactly, we must now focus on legally protecting these areas. Surfers across the world are fantastic allies for efforts like this – they love the ocean, know that it is threatened and are extremely motivated to protect it. They’ve been on board, so to speak, helping to lead the establishment of all the Surf Protected Areas we’ve partnered to create.”
So far, Conservation International has worked with partners to establish 30 Surf Protected Areas in Indonesia, Costa Rica and Peru. These Surf Protected Areas are centered on surf breaks and seek to protect their larger surrounding ecosystems including coastal forests, mangrove, beaches, seagrass, coral reefs and the waves themselves. Over half of these (23 Surf Protected Areas) have been established in Indonesia, which was used in the paper as a case study in creating an effective network of community-based protections. Collectively, the 23 locations form Indonesia’s initial Surf Protected Areas Network covering more than 60,000 hectares, which can be expanded to hundreds of world-class surf sites across the incredibly biodiverse and carbon-rich country.
Related: Finding a Line in the Sand for New Jersey Beach Badges
Jacob Bukoski, assistant professor at Oregon State University’s College of Forestry and the lead author of the study, said: “Our results suggest a significant opportunity for surf conservation to strengthen protection of climate-critical carbon stocks, including those found in blue carbon ecosystems such as mangroves and sea grasses. Expanded conservation of surf ecosystems – both their marine and onshore components – could provide a range of benefits in addition to biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation.”
The report was produced by a team of scientists from Conservation International and its Surf Conservation program, Oregon State University, Save The Waves Coalition and California State University at Channel Islands.
Isn’t this set of findings something Surfrider , Wild Coast, Heal the Bay, Surfers Against Sewage, and many other effective environmental surf organizations could use to further their cause? Let’s hope this is just the beginning.
Related: The Fight to Save a Precious Pointbreak in Tobago
Related: San Onofre State Park Scores 25-Year Lease Extension
Local News
Comments / 0