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

March 2022

Flock of Brants ( Branta bernicla ) in flight, in the San Quintín wetland, Baja California. Photo of Victor Ayala-Perez

pledged international commitments. After all, over the past year, the Government of Mexico already undercut CONANP’s operating budget by 75%. 70 The net result has been the curtailment of many of its key administrative functions, thus limiting its ability to execute its own mission. Still, given the strict limitations on eligible designees to obtain the use of protected coastal ecosystems through an ADD and the fact that an area designated as an ADD cannot be given in concession to anyone else, valid questions emerge on the potential of private for-profit companies to monetize coastal blue carbon assets, such as mangroves and seagrass, for the purpose of re selling carbon emissions credits.

It must be said that while restrictions due apply under Mexican law on the use or exploitation of coastal mangroves and other type of coastal and marine vegetation, our analysis has identified questions regarding title claims that some Ejido landowners may have along the Baja California peninsula, many of which include coastal properties with mangroves. Specifically, in these cases, property boundary maps issued by Mexico’s agrarian reform agency Secretaría de la Reforma Agraria , have been found to be in conflict, as they overlap with the otherwise stated ownership rights held by the Mexican Federation in the coastal zones. This is an issue that requires further analysis and investigation.

70 https://www.reporteindigo.com/reporte/recorte del-75-a-las-areas-naturales-protegidas-tiene-en inoperancia-a-la-conanp/

35 | P a g e