| Mudflats in Suncheon Bay, top, and Sinan County, both in South Jeolla Province / Courtesy of Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries |
By Ko Dong-hwan
Research by a Korean university has revealed evidence that mudflats along the country's coasts can significantly absorb carbon dioxide, one of the major propellants behind global warming.
A team of 17 researchers, led by professor Khim Jong-seong from Seoul National University's College of Natural Science, has found that the mudflats can sequester carbon from the atmosphere and absorb about 260,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year ― equivalent to the amount of emissions from 110,000 vehicles in a year. The team also said that some 13 million tons of organic carbon has been stored in the local mudflats.
Conducted from 2017 to 2020, the research looked into samples from 21 mudflats in the coastal regions along the west, south and east of Korea to evaluate the amount of organic carbon stocks and sequestration rates of coastal sediments. The team then used satellite images of the rest of the mudflats around the country and, based on the samples, estimated how much organic carbon and greenhouse gas have accumulated beneath them.
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, which supported the research, said on July 6 that a study of organic carbon in mudflats has never been carried out on a national scale anywhere in the world before.
“It is very encouraging that our country's mudflats have for the first time in the world been scientifically proven to have potential in reducing the carbon footprint as part of the ongoing global efforts to fight the impacts of climate change,” Khim said. “We will continue the research so that mudflats can be more globally acknowledged as a source of carbon reduction.”
The ministry said it will roll out plans to recover local mudflats' ecological conditions and plant more halophytes (salt-tolerant plants) at the regions so that the coastal wetlands can reduce carbon more effectively.
Song Sang-geun, head of the ministry's Marine Policy Office, said the results have shown a carbon neutralizing effect in Korean mudflats, “which are among the world's five biggest mudflats.”
“We will spare no efforts in supporting Korean researchers so that they can spearhead studying organic carbon stocks in mudflats around the world,” Song said.
The Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation, with the ministry's support, has been leading the country's technological foundations necessary for studying sequestration rates and the amount of organic carbon stored in local mudflats since 2017. Khim has been alongside the state-owned firm, verifying the corporation's findings and planning research necessary to establish the country's national inventory of organic carbon in coastal wetlands.
His latest study has been published in the most recent edition of the international journal, “Science of the Total Environment.”