BlueForests Education

BlueForests Education

Blue forests of macroalgae, seagrasses and saltmarshes, are powerhouses of benefits for human well-being through the provision of global and regional ecosystem services such as climate change mitigation, support of biodiversity and commercial species, water purification, coastline protection and disease control. Despite their importance, blue forests lack charisma, and their benefits and values are poorly grasped by the general-public, particularly by decision-makers and media, and surprisingly, among professionals whose livelihood directly depends on well-performing ecosystems.

The aim of BlueForests Education project is to improve the skills and competences on the ecological, societal and economic benefits and values of blue forests, to build professional capacity that may increase awareness and drive for conservation of this natural capital. To achieve this, a series of education and capacity building events will be delivered targeting several professional classes, supported by a digital learning platform where educational modules on blue forests will be available. A georeferenced data base on blue carbon will also be developed to store data collected by a turnkey blue carbon project that will be made available tin the platform to be developed by teachers and their students both in Portuguese and Norwegian schools.