Sec. 101. Blue Carbon Program
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/bill/117/hr/3764/rh/section-101A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
The Administrator shall establish and maintain a program within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to further conservation and restoration objectives for fish and wildlife habitat and coastal resilience, including the development of ways to incorporate ecosystem services from carbon storage into existing domestic and international policies, programs, and activities. In conducting the program, the Administrator may enter into and perform such contracts, leases, grants, or cooperative agreements as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this title on such terms as the Administrator considers appropriate.
The Administrator shall lead the development and coordination of the strategic plan described in section 106(e) and shall— collaborate with Federal agencies, the interagency working group, State agencies, Indian Tribes, Native American Pacific Islander organizations, and nongovernmental organizations on research, restoration, and protection efforts relating to blue carbon ecosystems; develop a database of blue carbon stocks and fluxes in the United States; assist in exploration of the potential for a market for carbon credits and other financial instruments for protection and restoration initiatives, including research, development of protocols, and evaluation of protocols and the efficacy of blue carbon markets as a tool for protecting ecosystems; develop and provide informational materials and guidance relating to using blue carbon ecosystems as a tool to further conservation and biodiversity objectives; use existing models or develop new models to assess blue carbon storage potential that include quantification, verifiability, additionality as compared to a historical baseline, and permanence of those benefits; quantify current total and net ecosystem carbon storage and sequestration in coastal and marine areas; project future total and net ecosystem carbon storage and sequestration under different scenarios influenced by human population growth, sea level rise, and other system-wide changes; protect and restore habitats, waters, and organisms that are long-term carbon sinks or will be subject to habitat change as a result of climate change and development; provide staff and technical expertise to the interagency working group; quantify co-benefits of blue carbon ecosystems, including flood-risk reduction, habitat protection and restoration for endangered and threatened species, habitat protection and restoration for commercial and recreational fisheries, water quality improvements, habitat maintenance and restoration, cycling of nutrients other than carbon, commercial and recreational fishing, and other responsible marine recreation benefits; assess regional and national ecosystem and socioeconomic impacts of carbon sequestration and storage; research variability, long-term storage, and innovative techniques for effective, long-term, natural ocean or coastal ecosystem-based carbon sequestration; identify areas of particularly high rates of carbon sequestration and storage, including locations within existing or proposed coastal and marine protected areas; assess legal issues of landownership in blue carbon markets, and develop guidelines to help landowners navigate the requirements of such markets; assess the impacts of protection and restoration efforts in blue carbon ecosystems on methane emissions; and coordinate with Federal agencies, other countries, and international organizations to advance resilience strategies that reflect the co-benefits of blue carbon for adaptation and mitigation, and the integration of blue carbon in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and Nationally Determined Contributions.