Abstract
The PADDUC-CHANGE project aims to evaluate the contribution of key ecosystems, present in Corsica, to mitigating the effects of climate change.
Indeed, at the 21st Climate Conference, all participants adopted the Paris Agreement in December 2015. This agreement aims to contain global warming "well below 2 °C by pre-industrial levels "and states that it is necessary" to take measures to conserve and, where appropriate, enhance the sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases ". Several Mediterranean ecosystems are of particular interest in this strategy because of their significant contribution to the sequestration of these greenhouse gases (carbon sinks).
The Mediterranean Islands, which are particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change, will therefore have to make a special effort to preserve and sustainably value these carbon sinks. Corsica already has an asset in this area since it houses two "ecosystems / key habitats", particularly effective in fixing and especially carbon sequestration: Pozzines altitude (comparable in their mechanism peatlands) and very large Posidonia seagrass meadows.
This program aims to better understand, conserve and if possible strengthen these carbon sinks:
- An inventory of the amounts of carbon sequestered in these two key ecosystems will be realized. The natural mechanisms responsible for this sequestration will be studied to better understand them and predict their evolution (next decades) in the context of climate change.
- Human pressures, likely to jeopardize these natural formations and the ecosystem services they provide, particularly in terms of mitigating the effects of climate change, will be identified in order to develop management plans for their conservation and maintenance. the socio-economic activities that depend on it.
Experiments to enhance the effectiveness of these natural carbon sinks will be carried out to optimize the emission / sequestration ratio and allow the emergence of a positive carbon balance (more fixation than carbon emission) at the scale. from Corsica.