2018 Update: Following this workshop, the Coastal Carbon Research Coordination Network (CCRCN) was established, with support from the National Science Foundation. The new CCRCN 'builds on work by the Blue Carbon Initiative, the NASA Blue Carbon Monitoring System, and the U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program. The CCRCN data management principles incorporate experience from these efforts, and best practices developed in collaboration with data management specialists across the Smithsonian and our partner institutions.'

The CCIWG/U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program and the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) sponsored a Global Science and Data Network for Coastal Blue Carbon Workshop in Menlo Park, California from January 12 to 14, 2016. A total of 47 participants from 12 countries participated in this 2.5 day workshop. Stakeholders engaged in science, policy, and project management for coastal blue carbon, at global, country and site scales discussed the science needs, options and potential frameworks for designing and establishing a global blue carbon scientific database and network. CCIWG members Dr. Zhiliang Zhu from USGS, Dr. Kathy Hibbard from NASA HQ and Dr. Gyami Shrestha from the U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program Office at the USGCRP participated and presented talks at the workshop. Dr. Karen Richardson from CEC participated in the workshop and presented an overview of CEC interests in this topic.

The workshop agenda is available here. An overview set of slides is available here. This and other presentations are available here. The list of participants is available here.

The workshop goals were focused on:

• Improving basic and applied science on carbon and GHG cycling in vegetated coastal ecosystems including basic science questions that addresses the immediate and future needs of decision-makers, carbon accounting and coastal management;
• Identifying priority research needs and geographies;
• Providing a mechanism for collecting and providing a coastal carbon and GHG data archive for use by the science community, coastal practitioners and other data users;
• Building the capacity of coastal carbon stakeholders globally to collect and interpret high quality coastal carbon science and data.

During the workshop, across-spectrum needs were identified for:

• Confidence in accurate and accessible blue carbon data,
• Global data coverage,
• Inclusive network of stakeholders (bi-directional sharing of information) and
• Leadership and definitions in the field of blue carbon science.

Dicussions on critical elements of the proposed community-driven network encompassed the need for it to include the following aspects:

• Policy-relevance but science-focused
• Sustainable
• Collaborative with other blue carbon networks
• Supportive in training and outreach to grow the database and stakeholder involvement.

A series of short- and long-term products are being developed based on the workshop outcomes.

For more details see here or contact the workshop planning team below.

• Emily Pidgeon, Conservation International, San Francisco, CA
• Jennifer Howard, Conservation International, Washington, DC
• Jim Tang, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA
• Kevin Kroeger, USGS, Woods Hole, MA
• Lisamarie Windham-Myers, USGS, Menlo Park, CA