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Jaxine Wolfe1, Rose Cheney1 , James Holmquist1
1. Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD, USA
Coastal wetlands, such as marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses, are becoming increasingly recognized on a global scale for their excellent carbon sequestration and storage capacity. This function presents a potential pathway for countries to meet their climate mitigation targets when paired with emission reduction across sectors. Within the last decade, the scientific advancement of our understanding of these ecosystems combined with their potential for mitigation impact has launched them into discussions of broader climate mitigation policy. Many countries are now looking to incorporate coastal wetlands into their national greenhouse gas inventories (NGGI), however, the carbon dynamics of ecosystems are not so straightforward to assess, and these assessments often limited by available data. Addressing limitations in data infrastructure can help strengthen in-country capacity to support carbon projects and inform decision-making. This topic has been a recent focus of the Coastal Carbon Network (CCN) which, among other functions, maintains and serves the largest synthesis of carbon data from tidal wetlands around the world. To help address this need, the CCN joined a multi-agency partnership with the goal of helping countries prepare NGGIs consistent with IPCC guidelines and reduce emissions by promoting better wetland management strategies. Through this project, our team was able to provide technical support to advance the availability, representation and access for field data supporting the inventorying eVorts of various countries, help assess and address data infrastructure needs in-country, and leverage feedback to prototype a new user-friendly interface that provides data-driven insight for inventory compilers and related stakeholders