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

March 2022

species, water quality enhancement, recreation and eco-tourism, providing a natural form of protection against extreme weather events, and o ering wintering habitats for a variety migratory birds species. See Figure 6 for details.

Figure 6: Classification of ecosystem services by Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA 2005) Source: Adapted from MEA 2005

In 2017, a comprehensive analysis 96 of the blue carbon sequestration potential in the five largest wetland lagoon complexes along the Pacific Coast of the Baja California peninsula was done, covering: Estero Punta Banda, Bahia San Quintin, Laguna Ojo de Liebre, Laguna San Ignacio and the Bahia Magdalena Lagoon Complex. They estimated the combined carbon sequestration potential of these five coastal wetlands at 55,300 MtC02e/year 97 (see Table 5 in the Appendix ). A key finding of this study was that the tidal wetlands of the Baja California peninsula appear to have a low

vulnerability to the sea level rise and, as such, are an important carbon storage resource for the future. It spite of the critical importance of the Baja California peninsula’s natural blue carbon assets, these are often under-valued due to the public good, non-market nature of the ecosystem services that they provide. In the case of coastal mangrove forests in Baja California Sur, this blue carbon asset has been under-valued and over exploited, thereby justifying deforestation. Accordingly, mangrove forests across the state

96 Elizabeth Burke Watson y Alejandro Hinojosa Corona, Assessment of Blue Carbon Storage by Baja California (Mexico) Tidal Wetlands and Evidence for Wetlands Stability in the Face of Anthropogenic and Climate Impacts , Sensors (Basel), 18(10): 32, Enero 2018. h � ps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ar � cles/PMC579 5378/ 97 Ibid.

95 Richard Kempka, Use of digital mul � spectral videography to assess seagrass distribu � on in San Quin � n Bay, Baja California, Mexico, Ciencias Marinas, 30(1A): 47-60, February 2004. h � ps://www.researchgate.net/publica � on/2370353 92_Use_of_digital_mul �s pectral_videography_to_as sess_seagrass_distribu � on_in_San_Quin � n_Bay_Baj a_California_Mexico

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