The Blue Carbon PH is an online platform that allows for researchers and stakeholders to access, process, and share blue carbon data in different parts of the Philippines.
Blue carbon is our nature-based solution against climate change. The Philippines is a hotspot and hope-spot for blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs), particularly mangroves and seagrass beds. Effective BCE conservation and restoration require accessible, accurate, and sufficient blue carbon stock (BCS) data. The growing appreciation for blue carbon in the Philippines led to the increased BCS data in the country, but efforts to consolidate BC data remain limited. Developing a local-scale data analytic platform (DAP) can address this problem.
The Blue Carbon PH is an R-based online DAP for collating, computing and sharing BCS data in the Philippines. This is initiated by the Integrated network-based Management for SEA coasts (InMSEA) Project to facilitate data sharing and collaborations for blue carbon and coastal research and management. It has three modules to compute BCS from either environmental data or mangrove vegetation data and share BCS values from published or unpublished studies.
The user-friendly and ease of accessibility of Blue Carbon PH can assist local governments in BCE management through (1) identifying priority conservation and restoration sites based on areas with high BCS gains and losses, and (2) objective monitoring of the success rate of restoration efforts. The Home and About Pages of Blue Carbon PH also serve as information and awareness material. Explaining the concept of blue carbon in layman’s terms empowers local community members remain interested and be engaged in using and accessing BCS data through the DAP.
DAPs should be sustained to keep it online, running, and updated. Whether or not the BCS data consolidated by Blue Carbon PH (or other locally developed DAPs) will translate into real benefits for BCE management will highly depend on the existing mandates and priority thrusts of the government. For now, one thing is certain: Blue Carbon PH is still in its initial stages. It is yet to undergo further development and pilot testing to support future actions and policies for BCE conservation and restoration.
A DAP is a computer system that can analyze large, complex, and dynamic data to support data sharing and decision-making. Corcino & Salmo (2025) published an article titled, “Blue Carbon PH: An R-based web platform for databasing and computing blue carbon in the Philippines” to discuss the development of Blue Carbon PH and the challenges and realizations in the development, implementation, maintenance, and significance of DAPs. Here are some screenshots of the DAP from their article:
Mangrove Ecology 