South Korea’s ‘sea women’ seek accountability for harbor damage to marine habitat | News | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific

Nature & Climate Perspective

**Coastal harbor expansion poses severe operational threats to nearshore Blue Carbon sinks and benthic ecological integrity. **

• Physical disturbance from dredging and sedimentation disrupts critical subtidal kelp and macroalgae beds, severely destabilizing local marine biodiversity and trophic food chains.
• The destruction of nearshore benthic habitats impairs localized Blue Carbon sequestration and risks re-suspending stored organic carbon back into the coastal water column.
• Loss of littoral nursery grounds undermines long-term coastal ecological equilibrium, compounding climate change pressures such as rising regional sea surface temperatures.

Market & Policy Outlook

**This dispute exposes friction between public infrastructure development and ICVCM Core Carbon Principles regarding social safeguards and the rights of local resource stewards. **

• Failure to secure Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) or protect traditional livelihoods violates criteria analogous to ICVCM Principle 8 (Social and Environmental Safeguards), raising legal liability risks for South Korean coastal planning authorities.
• Emerging blue carbon project finance and Article 6.4 crediting pipelines will face elevated social-discount risk premiums without verified stakeholder benefit-sharing and grievance mechanisms.
• Multinational infrastructure developers and contractors face heightened scrutiny under SBTi marine-specific target setting and TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures) frameworks for coastal natural capital destruction.