Green Pulse Podcast: Looking under the sea for a nature-based solution

Dr Siti Maryam, a marine ecologist at the environmental consultant company DHI Water & Environment, joins us in this podcast about an ocean-based solution to tackling climate change: Seagrass. PHOTO: COURTESY OF SITI MARYAM

Updated

Published

Nov 06, 2020, 06:00 PM

Green Pulse Ep 36: Looking under the sea for a nature-based solution

16:44 mins

Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change in this podcast series.

In this episode, ST's environment correspondent Audrey Tan and climate change editor David Fogarty host Dr Siti Maryam, a marine ecologist at the environmental consultant company DHI Water & Environment, about an ocean-based solution to tackling climate change: Seagrass.

Seagrass meadows can be found in Singapore waters, and a 2015 study had found that the seagrass meadow at Chek Jawa on offshore Pulau Ubin contained about 138 metric tonnes of carbon per hectare of seagrass -- equivalent to emissions from 69,000 taxi rides between Marina Bay and Changi Airport.

Yet, these habitats face many threats from human activity, including land reclamation and poor water quality. How can these stores of blue carbon be better protected and restored? Tune in to find out.

They discuss the following points:

1. How do you differentiate seagrass from seaweed and other algae? (2:15)

2. How do seagrass meadows function as a nature-based solution? (3:40)

3. What are the threats faced by seagrass meadows around the world? (9:21)

4. What are solutions for restoring seagrass meadows? (11:50)

Follow Audrey Tan on Twitter

Follow David Fogarty on Twitter

Produced by: Audrey Tan (audreyt@sph.com.sg), David Fogarty (dfogarty@sph.com.sg) & Ernest Luis

Edited by: Adam Azlee

Follow Green Pulse Podcast series and rate us on:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWaf

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWaY