Ocean Rewilding is expected to come up in COP26. A network of 68 European organisations are working together to find ways to reinvigorate the marine life of the earth.
Rewilding is restoring to its natural uncultivated state. This is done by introducing animal or plant species that have been exterminated (destroyed completely) or driven out in a region. Ocean rewilding is introducing plant and animal life in the oceans and allowing them to grow without human interferences.
Why is Ocean rewilding important?
Today the oceans have lost their capabilities to store blue carbon. Blue carbon is the term for carbon captured by the coastal systems and oceans. It is higher than that captured by the land. The annual carbon sequestration rate for mangrove forests is four times greater than that of a tropical forest!
Bio Restore Project
It is an Ocean Rewilding project that was started by France in 2012. It aims to restore the coastal fish population. Under the programme, more than eighty five species of fishes have been reintroduced in the French Mediterranean region.
Sea Grass Restoration Project
It was launched by the UK in 2020. It is also a Ocean Rewilding project. Under the project eight different sea grasses are to be planted across the south coast of England.
Carbon Sequestration
It is an artificial process by which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and is held in liquid or solid form.
COP26
The United Nations is to host the COP26 in Glasgow. It will bring together parties to accelerate goals of Paris Agreement and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.