Alex Houston

We acknowledge the letter to the editor by Williamson et al. (2025) commenting on our article and note that there is a similarity in the published exchange regarding the Australian blue carbon (BC) method (Lovelock et al. 2023). 1 Climate Mitigation in Blue Carbon Ecosystems Williamson et al. (2025) incorrectly state that targeted management interventions to protect vulnerable stores of carbon in blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) are not a valid and permissible climate mitigation strategy.

1 Introduction Tidal marshes, seagrasses and mangroves are ‘actionable’ blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) which globally store > 30,000 teragrams (Tg) organic carbon (OC) and could offset up to 3% of global emissions annually by 2030 through their protection and restoration (Macreadie et al. 2021). Other tidal wetlands, found across different continents, have very similar characteristics to the named actionable BCEs (Adame et al.

Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs), such as saltmarshes, accumulate organic carbon (OC) over millennia (Mcleod et al. 2011; Macreadie et al. 2021; Friess et al. 2022) and store vast amounts of carbon (> 30,000 Tg). There is significant public and private interest in using these systems for their potential climate mitigation and adaptation benefits, through management interventions including habitat protection, restoration, and creation (Needelman et al. 2018; Macreadie et al. 2019; Friess et al. 2022).