27
species and ecosystems as a strategy for management of biological resources. Here,
biological resource management means maintaining biological resources useful for
humans in a sustainable and efficient manner. This management strategy not only
targets effective and appropriate resource use but also the maintenance of habitats
that enable successful reproduction of the target species and prey and predator interactions throughout the entire ecosystem.
Ecosystem management was originally assumed to focus on resources used by
humans, but in recent years the viewpoint that consideration should be given to
ecosystems for their own sake has become stronger. Biological resources used by
humans are now considered as ecosystem services. This concept includes the idea
that biological resources consist of natural capital (stock) and surplus capital (flow).
The latter originates from the natural capital, and the surplus is used by human
beings as ecosystem services (Ministry of the Japanese Environment 2014).
Although human life is supported by “ecosystem services, which bring various
blessings from nature” such as food, water, climate mitigation, etc., there is no universally accepted method to evaluate such ecosystem services. The fact that the
value of the natural environment is not being determined appropriately and that the
natural environment is used excessively as a resource for business activities of companies freely or at low cost is viewed as a large problem in the world.
The idea of regarding the natural environment as “natural capital” and appropriately evaluating and managing it as capital that supports business activities was first
proposed in the final report led by the UNEP and the government of Germany, “The
Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity”, in the 2010 Convention of Biological
Diversity (COP10). At the 2012 UN-sponsored “United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development” (Rio + 20), “The Declaration of Natural Capital” was
proposed as a way to communicate this idea of “natural capital” to society, so that
financial institutions around the world could incorporate the idea that natural capital
should be recognized in the context of financial products and services. This concept
was adopted by the “Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity
and Ecosystem Services” (IPBES), which is described in Chap. 13. Fundamentally,
the idea suggests that appropriately determining the value of natural capital and
managing it accordingly will stabilize the lives of citizens and increase the sustainability of corporate operations. If management is based on this idea, then the goal of
management will be effective and appropriate use of natural capital. With respect to
blue carbon, coastal flowering plants are natural capital, and thus the sequestration
and storage of CO 2 is an ecosystem service provided by that natural capital.
In addition to sequestering and storing blue carbon, seagrass beds provide various ecosystem services to human beings. As noted in the UNEP Report, seagrass
beds are an important habitat of biological production that supports coastal seafood
production. The sedimentation function of seagrass beds not only facilitates sequestration and storage of CO 2 but also helps to buffer coastlines from sea level rise and
increased storm damage associated with climate change. For the purpose of effectively and appropriately using these ecosystem services, it is important to consider
ecosystem management of natural capital. An example pointed out in the previous
1 Blue Carbon: Characteristics of the Ocean’s Sequestration and Storage Ability…
species and ecosystems as a strategy for management of biological resources. Here,
biological resource management means maintaining biological resources useful for
humans in a sustainable and efficient manner. This management strategy not only
targets effective and appropriate resource use but also the maintenance of habitats
that enable successful reproduction of the target species and prey and predator interactions throughout the entire ecosystem.
Ecosystem management was originally assumed to focus on resources used by
humans, but in recent years the viewpoint that consideration should be given to
ecosystems for their own sake has become stronger. Biological resources used by
humans are now considered as ecosystem services. This concept includes the idea
that biological resources consist of natural capital (stock) and surplus capital (flow).
The latter originates from the natural capital, and the surplus is used by human
beings as ecosystem services (Ministry of the Japanese Environment 2014).
Although human life is supported by “ecosystem services, which bring various
blessings from nature” such as food, water, climate mitigation, etc., there is no universally accepted method to evaluate such ecosystem services. The fact that the
value of the natural environment is not being determined appropriately and that the
natural environment is used excessively as a resource for business activities of companies freely or at low cost is viewed as a large problem in the world.
The idea of regarding the natural environment as “natural capital” and appropriately evaluating and managing it as capital that supports business activities was first
proposed in the final report led by the UNEP and the government of Germany, “The
Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity”, in the 2010 Convention of Biological
Diversity (COP10). At the 2012 UN-sponsored “United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development” (Rio + 20), “The Declaration of Natural Capital” was
proposed as a way to communicate this idea of “natural capital” to society, so that
financial institutions around the world could incorporate the idea that natural capital
should be recognized in the context of financial products and services. This concept
was adopted by the “Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity
and Ecosystem Services” (IPBES), which is described in Chap. 13. Fundamentally,
the idea suggests that appropriately determining the value of natural capital and
managing it accordingly will stabilize the lives of citizens and increase the sustainability of corporate operations. If management is based on this idea, then the goal of
management will be effective and appropriate use of natural capital. With respect to
blue carbon, coastal flowering plants are natural capital, and thus the sequestration
and storage of CO 2 is an ecosystem service provided by that natural capital.
In addition to sequestering and storing blue carbon, seagrass beds provide various ecosystem services to human beings. As noted in the UNEP Report, seagrass
beds are an important habitat of biological production that supports coastal seafood
production. The sedimentation function of seagrass beds not only facilitates sequestration and storage of CO 2 but also helps to buffer coastlines from sea level rise and
increased storm damage associated with climate change. For the purpose of effectively and appropriately using these ecosystem services, it is important to consider
ecosystem management of natural capital. An example pointed out in the previous
1 Blue Carbon: Characteristics of the Ocean’s Sequestration and Storage Ability…