The depths surrounding the Falkland Islands could contain excellent stores of carbon.

A report from the South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI) has looked at the importance of carbon sinks at the seabed around the Falklands’ shores, and how they could play a part in preserving the Falkland Islands’ marine biodiversity.

“Blue carbon” refers to stores of carbon in marine ecosystems. For example, when ocean life dies, the carbon within the remains is stored on the ocean floor. This carbon is locked away and taken out of the carbon cycle for potentially hundreds to thousands of years.

For more information on Blue Carbon in the Falkland Islands, you can read the report by Bax et al. (2022) in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science research topic – Blue Carbon: Beyond the Inventory here.