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GARP Sustainability and Climate Risk Certificate Wetlands, Coastal Ecosystems & Blue Carbon: practice questions

GARP Sustainability and Climate Risk (SCR) Certificate · International · Global Association of Risk Professionals

Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papers
9worked here, free
24written to this exam in this subject
7syllabus units

What this subject covers

Wetlands, mangroves, seagrasses and estuaries: their ecology, the services they give agriculture and fisheries, their carbon stores, and the Ramsar and coastal-zone rules that protect them.

In the exams: ICAR AICE subject 71 Unit 2 (wetlands, mangroves, Ramsar); ICAR AICE Aquatic Environmental Management; UPSC CSE environment

Where the 24 questions fall

How our questions for GARP Sustainability and Climate Risk Certificate spread across the units of Wetlands, Coastal Ecosystems & Blue Carbon. Difficulty: 2 easy, 11 medium, 11 hard.

Blue carbon: stocks, fluxes and accounting9
Peatlands: drainage, fire and rewetting6
Rice paddies as managed wetlands4
Integrated Coastal Zone Management2
Wetland hydrology, soils and vegetation1
Wetland functions and services1
Mangroves, seagrasses, salt marshes and estuaries1

9 practice questions, worked

Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.

1 · Wetland functions and services · hard

Why are many wetland services undervalued in land-use decisions?

  1. They are public goods that benefit people other than the landowner
  2. They have no measurable effect on any human activity
  3. They are fully priced in agricultural commodity markets
  4. They benefit only the owner of the wetland, who already pays for them
Answer and working

A. They are public goods that benefit people other than the landowner

Flood control, water purification and biodiversity benefit downstream and wider society, so owners gain little from conserving them, leading to conversion. The other statements are false.

Further reading: Ecosystem services literature

2 · Blue carbon: stocks, fluxes and accounting · medium

A mangrove stand stores 1000 t C per hectare. What is this in CO2-equivalent?

  1. 3667 t CO2/ha
  2. 273 t CO2/ha
  3. 1000 t CO2/ha
  4. 12000 t CO2/ha
Answer and working

A. 3667 t CO2/ha

CO2 = C × 44/12 = 1000 × 3.667 = 3667 t. 273 uses 12/44; 1000 forgets the conversion; 12000 multiplies by 12.

Further reading: Donato et al. 2011

3 · Blue carbon: stocks, fluxes and accounting · medium

A restored marsh of 10 ha buries 2.0 t C per hectare per year. How much CO2 is sequestered over 20 years?

  1. 400 t CO2
  2. 40 t CO2
  3. 1467 t CO2
  4. 4400 t CO2
Answer and working

C. 1467 t CO2

Carbon = 10 × 2.0 × 20 = 400 t C; × 44/12 = 1467 t CO2. 400 is carbon, not CO2; 40 omits the 20 years and the hectares' product; 4400 multiplies 400 by 11 instead of 44/12.

4 · Blue carbon: stocks, fluxes and accounting · hard

Above roughly what salinity does methane emission from coastal wetlands become low?

  1. About 0.5 parts per thousand
  2. About 18 parts per thousand
  3. About 180 parts per thousand
  4. About 1 part per million
Answer and working

B. About 18 parts per thousand

Wetlands with salinity above about 18 ppt generally have low methane emissions because sulphate suppresses methanogenesis; fresh and brackish systems emit more.

Further reading: IPCC 2013 Wetlands Supplement

5 · Blue carbon: stocks, fluxes and accounting · hard

Why does protecting existing mangroves usually deliver more climate benefit per hectare than planting new ones?

  1. Newly planted mangroves emit methane only and never store carbon
  2. Protected mangroves stop all global warming locally
  3. It avoids large soil-carbon losses
  4. Planting mangroves is forbidden in tropical countries
Answer and working

C. It avoids large soil-carbon losses

Conversion releases centuries of stored soil carbon quickly; restoration takes decades to rebuild stocks. Planting can still be valuable where hydrology allows.

Further reading: Blue carbon literature

6 · Blue carbon: stocks, fluxes and accounting · hard

Why can blue carbon soils keep accumulating carbon for millennia, unlike many forest soils?

  1. They are too cold for any decomposition
  2. They receive carbon only from fossil fuels
  3. They are regularly burned, which adds charcoal
  4. Sediments build upward with sea-level rise
Answer and working

D. Sediments build upward with sea-level rise

Vertical accretion of anoxic sediments as sea level rises creates new space for carbon burial; forest soils tend to reach equilibrium. The other statements are wrong.

Further reading: Mcleod et al. 2011

7 · Peatlands: drainage, fire and rewetting · medium

What happens when peat is drained for agriculture?

  1. It immediately turns into coal
  2. It stores more carbon than before because roots grow deeper
  3. It oxidises, emitting CO2, and the surface subsides
  4. It becomes a seagrass meadow
Answer and working

C. It oxidises, emitting CO2, and the surface subsides

Oxygen allows decomposition, releasing CO2 (and N2O) and causing subsidence of centimetres a year. Drainage does not form coal or increase storage.

Further reading: UNEP Global Peatlands Assessment 2022

8 · Peatlands: drainage, fire and rewetting · medium

1000 ha of drained tropical peat has an emission factor of 40 t CO2/ha/yr. What are annual emissions?

  1. 1040 t CO2
  2. 40000 t CO2
  3. 25 t CO2
  4. 400000 t CO2
Answer and working

B. 40000 t CO2

Emissions = area × EF = 1000 × 40 = 40000 t CO2/yr. 1040 adds; 25 divides; 400000 adds an extra factor of ten.

Further reading: IPCC 2013 Wetlands Supplement

9 · Peatlands: drainage, fire and rewetting · medium

What is paludiculture?

  1. Draining peat for oil palm and pulpwood plantations
  2. Mining peat for fuel
  3. Burning peat to clear land
  4. Productive land use on wet or rewetted peat
Answer and working

D. Productive land use on wet or rewetted peat

Paludiculture grows wetland crops such as reeds, cattails, Sphagnum or sago on wet peat, keeping carbon stored. The other options degrade peat.

Further reading: Paludiculture literature

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Read the subject

Wetlands, Coastal Ecosystems & Blue CarbonThe full study manual, free GARP Sustainability and Climate Risk CertificateFormat, sections and how it has changed

More GARP Sustainability and Climate Risk Certificate practice

Climate Finance, Climate Risk & Sustainable InvestmentSustainable Agri-food Supply Chains & Deforestation-free SourcingClimate System ScienceSustainability Reporting & ESG DisclosureClimate Models, Scenarios & DownscalingClimate Adaptation, Climate-Smart Agriculture & Disaster RiskEnvironmental Law, Policy & International AgreementsCarbon Accounting & Greenhouse Gas InventoriesCarbon Markets, Offsets & Payments for Ecosystem ServicesEnergy, Environment & Agri-energy Transitions

Wetlands, Coastal Ecosystems & Blue Carbon for other exams

ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF · IndiaUGC NET · IndiaUPSC Civil Services Examination · India

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