Publication Abstract

With the increasing threats posed by climate change, attempts are being made to govern and manage natural stores of carbon for the purpose of climate change mitigation. Substantial stocks of such carbon exist within the seabed sediments of global shelf seas. This marine Sedimentary Carbon (SC) is part of a significant natural carbon sequestration and storage system that could be relevant in the governance of climate change mitigation. However, marine SC is large-scale, highly transboundary and has uncertain origins, leading to considerable governance challenges which have hitherto been only marginally researched. This paper investigates the potential governance of marine SC and its processes (i.e., the marine SC system) through 20 semi-structured interviews of experts in relevant governance fields.  This study finds that the major governance challenges facing marine SC centre on its conceptualisation, economics, and politics. We conclude that, if the marine SC system is to be included in climate change mitigation strategies, given its potential role in carbon sequestration and storage, a more detailed conceptualisation of the marine SC system is necessary, including its physical extent, susceptibility to anthropogenic effects, and the scope for international co-governance in the context of highly utilised, and politicised, geographies. Marine SC system governance is a novel – upstream – subject of research, and these results lay down a foundation of knowledge that allows for greater exploration going forward regarding a tool of climate change mitigation with significant potential.

Jack Smith*, Irene Lorenzoni, and Tiziana Luisetti*.