Mangrove ecosystems store large amounts of 'Blue Carbon', in particular in the sediment. Research in the past decade has emphasized the quantitative significance of carbon storage in mangrove forests in climate change mitigation, mainly by determining carbon stocks and calculating potential CO₂ emissions caused by mangrove degradation. However, while this approach focuses on the total amount of carbon that can be lost to degradation, it fails to capture the amount that is sequestered annually. Therefore, carbon accumulation in mangrove sediments also needs to be taken into account. This study (i) explains the differences between carbon stocks and carbon accumulation rates (CAR), (ii) it addresses the geographical variation of carbon storage and underlying factors and (iii) it assesses the global relevance of 'Blue Carbon' sequestration in mangrove sediments. Results indicate that reducing uncertainties in carbon storage estimates of individual systems requires a representative set of data that covers within-system variability. An example from Indonesia illustrates that a mangrove ecosystem with a high C stock can have a low CAR and vice versa. It is therefore conceivable that coastal environmental settings with high allochthonous supply of mineral sediment, organic matter and nutrients mostly have low carbon stocks, but high CARs. As these settings represent >80% of the global mangrove area they are most important in terms of long-term carbon storage. While a C stock is a measure of the "vulnerability potential" in the case of ecosystem degradation or total loss, a CAR is rather a measure of the "mitigation potential" of carbon storage in mangrove ecosystems. The global carbon storage in mangrove sediments of 32 Tg yr⁻¹ estimated from CARs in this study is at the upper end of the range of global budgets (14.6–31.1 Tg yr⁻¹, mean 22.9 Tg yr⁻¹). It highlights that the mangrove carbon sink may be larger than previously thought, but the high variation in the global average CAR of 233 ± 280 g C m⁻² yr⁻¹ also indicates the need for further data.

红树林生态系统存储了大量的“蓝碳”，尤其是在沉积物中。过去十年的研究强调，通过确定碳储量和计算潜在的CO ₂，红树林中碳存储在缓解气候变化中具有定量意义。红树林退化引起的排放。但是，尽管这种方法侧重于因降解而损失的碳总量，但它无法捕获每年封存的碳量。因此，还需要考虑红树林沉积物中的碳积累。这项研究（i）解释了碳储量和碳积累率（CAR）之间的差异，（ii）解决了碳储量和潜在因素的地理变化，（iii）评估了红树林中“蓝碳”封存的全球相关性沉积物。结果表明，要降低单个系统的碳储量估计值的不确定性，就需要一组具有代表性的数据，这些数据应涵盖系统内部的可变性。印度尼西亚的一个例子表明，具有高碳储量的红树林生态系统可能具有较低的CAR，反之亦然。因此可以想象，在沿海环境中，矿物沉积物，有机物和养分的异源供应量很大，而碳储量却很低，但CARs却很高。这些设置占全球红树林面积的80％以上，因此对于长期碳存储而言，这是最重要的。尽管碳库是生态系统退化或完全丧失的情况下“脆弱性潜力”的量度，但CAR却是红树林生态系统中碳储存的“缓解潜力”的量度。32 Tg年的红树林沉积物中全球碳储量 有机物和营养素大多具有低碳储量，但高CAR。这些设置占全球红树林面积的80％以上，因此对于长期碳存储而言，这是最重要的。尽管碳库是生态系统退化或完全丧失的情况下“脆弱性潜力”的量度，但CAR却是红树林生态系统中碳储存的“缓解潜力”的量度。32 Tg年的红树林沉积物中全球碳储量 有机物和营养素大多具有低碳储量，但高CAR。这些设置占全球红树林面积的80％以上，因此对于长期碳存储而言，这是最重要的。尽管碳库是生态系统退化或完全丧失的情况下“脆弱性潜力”的量度，但CAR却是红树林生态系统中碳储存的“缓解潜力”的量度。32 Tg年的红树林沉积物中全球碳储量在这项研究中，从CARs估计的^-1处于全球预算范围的上限（14.6–31.1 Tg yr ^-1，平均22.9 Tg yr ^-1）。它强调了红树林碳汇可能比以前认为的要大，但全球平均CAR的高变化为233±280 g C m ^-2 yr ^-1也表明需要进一步的数据。