As part of the RISE series, Marcus Erridge, PhD, presents preliminary background research for a group research proposal. The idea is to map the social lives, small-scale industries and citizen science activities of carbon sequestration environments – specifically, case studies of blue or teal carbon sinks - to identify the practices, cultures, roles and sustainable economies that could help ensure the long-term integrity of tidal marshlands and freshwater wetlands in targeted case study locations.

The aim is to conceptualise an interdisciplinary framework for a Conservation Basic Income (CBI) that formalises a typology of Citizen Science conservation-related roles. In context of the triple planetary crisis (of climate change, nature loss, and pollution) and the twin transition (digital and green), the research will investigate converging concepts of conservation and biodiversity protection, nature based-solutions to decarbonisation, convivial conservation approaches to human and non-human ecosystem health and socio-environmental justice, citizen science as a conduit to post-AI future work in the blue (circular) (bio-)economy. Beyond conservation through CO2 sequestration, there is burgeoning interest in the value of carbon sinks for blue algae farming – for wastewater bioremediation, food and protein and biofuel feedstocks – and their ‘carbon wealth’ for trading in the voluntary carbon credit market.

However, there is limited research from the social sciences that documents and socio-spatially maps the communities that conserve, protect and benefit from tidal marsh and wetlands environments. The research synopsis in its current formation is presented for discussion, to invite reflections, questions, as well as interest in helping take this forward.


Bio note

Marcus Erridge | Postdoctoral researcher and research assistant on the EU Horizon Project 'GREENPATHS: European Knowledge Hub On Just Transition Pathways'. His PhD research topic, 'Data, Demand and Sanitation' and associated publications focus on intersections of citizen science, Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), the human right to sanitation and the SDGs. Marcus has 20 years of professional experience as an administrator, data analyst, and senior researcher for NGOs and educational institutions in the UK and US. His research interests include human rights and the green transition, biofuels and post-extractivism. MA in Understanding and Securing Human Rights (Distinction), Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 2011. PhD Human Rights in Contemporary Societies (Summa Cum Laude), CES, III, University of Coimbra, 2023.

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