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The latest research looked at data stretching back to the 1920s to quantify this carbon storage, also called carbon sequestration.

Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing CO2 and preventing it from entering the atmosphere by storing it underground, in aquifers or other geologic formations.

Speaking at the assembly, the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN, Ambassador Mohan Pieris, said seagrasses were “one of the most valuable marine ecosystems on earth,” highlighting, among other things, their outsize contribution to carbon sequestration.

According to an April project report, there would be a significant drop in carbon sequestration the first year after the current canopy was replaced, with the level expected to break even in 24 years, based on the plan before it was amended.

The lawsuit states that the revelation concerning the drop in carbon sequestration necessitates environmental review, and that the modifications — described as attempts to mitigate what’s known as the urban heat island effect — also require analysis under CEQA.