A new documentary dives deep into the effects of kelp on carbon capture and sequestration.
The aim of the documentary is to develop a solid foundation and method for quantifying the effects of kelp on carbon, which in turn will allow access to funds aimed at kelp forest restoration.
The new documentary is titled “Kelp Currency: Unlocking the True Value of the Ocean’s Forests.” It is a collaborative effort between the nonprofit Seatrees and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.
The film studies the effects of kelp forests on the California coastline and how they could hold the secret to reversing the effects of climate change. This, in turn, could protect the planet’s biodiversity and add kelp forests to the global carbon marketplace.
To this day, kelp forests remain massively underfunded and are mostly ignored in the global carbon market, thus starving them of funding. The film aims to reverse this by placing a value and quantity on the amount of carbon sequestered by these ocean forests.
Seatrees is a leading non-profit organization that protects and restores marine and coastal ecosystems. The organization also aims to stop and reverse climate change, restore biodiversity, and support local communities worldwide.
According to Seatrees Co-Founder and Director Kevin Whilden:
“Kelp forests are an iconic ecosystem valued by people around the world, but kelp conservation is chronically underfunded. Our collaboration with Scripps targets the critical barrier to an exponential increase in funding for kelp: the science of how kelp sequesters carbon.”
You can check out a clip from the film “Kelp Currency: Unlocking the True Value of the Ocean’s Forests” below.
