Cross-Border, Nature Based Market Solutions to Protect Blue Carbon Coastal Ecosystems in the Californias

March 2022

Introduction

Brants ( Branta bernicla ) in wetlands of Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur. Each year several thousand individuals spend the winter in peninsular wetlands feeding mainly on seagrass beds ( Zostera marina ). Photo Victor Ayala-Perez.

Las Californias is one of the most ecologically diverse bioregions in the world. The state of California is considered the most biodiverse state in the United States 1 while the Baja California peninsula is among the most biodiverse regions in Mexico, with a high incidence of endemic species. The binational Las Californias Bioregion includes the California Floristic Province (CFP) 2 — considered a global biodiversity hotspot. The California Floristic Province offers critical coastal and inland wetland habitats along the Pacific Americas Flyway in the states of California, Baja 2 Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Biodiversity Hotspots, California Floristic Province. https://www.cepf.net/our-work/biodiversity hotspots/california-floristic-province

Climate change does not respect political borders. There is a growing need to examine innovative cross-border climate solutions toward climate action that extend beyond traditional jurisdictional boundaries. This is especially true in trans-boundary bioregions with shared watersheds and migratory species, and nowhere is this truer than in the tri-state binational region of the Californias, consisting of the U.S. State of California and the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur (collectively, Las Californias).

1 Harold Mooney and Erika Zavelta (Editors), Ecosystems of California: Threats & Responses: Supplement for Decision-Making, University of California Press, 2016. https://calnat.ucanr.edu/files/263126.pdf

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