August, 2026

NEW POLICY BRIEF: Blue carbon projects must uphold the land and sea rights of coastal peoples

A new policy brief published in Nature Climate Change by Sarah Lawless, Philippa J. Cohen, Rayhan Dudayev, Elizabeth Evans-Illidge, Catherine E. Lovelock, Bob Muir, Emily Ogier, Sisir Pradhan and Tiffany H. Morrison highlights the need for blue carbon projects to place the land and sea rights of Indigenous peoples, coastal communities and small-scale fishers at the centre of project design and governance.

The research team reviewed 122 blue carbon guidance documents and found that, while many acknowledge tenure rights, most focus narrowly on access and management while overlooking other critical rights, including the ability to exclude, withdraw from or benefit from resources. Their findings highlight a significant gap in current blue carbon policy and practice, and call for initiatives to move beyond treating rights as a condition for project approval and instead recognise rightsholders as leaders and decision-makers in projects affecting their territories.