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

March 2022

Isla San José, La Paz, B.C.S. Cr e dit: Thor Morales

have been destroyed at a rate of 0.205% annually from 2005-2015. 98 Globally, 20–35% of global mangrove extent has been lost over the last 50 years. 99 Land use change is the leading cause of mangrove deforestation around the world, and conversion to shrimp aquaculture being the major economic driver and a source of negative health impacts to adjacent ecosystems at key sites in Baja California Sur. 100 Economic analysis is valuable for governments in the decision-making process when allocating scarce resources. However, traditional economic analysis tends to underestimate the long-term benefits of natural resources of coastal ecosystems due to the difficulty in quantifying ecosystem services in comparable 98 Kumagai, J. A., Costa, M. T., Ezcurra, E. & Aburto Oropeza, O. Prioritizing mangrove conservation across Mexico to facilitate 2020 NDC ambition. Ambio 49, 1992–2002 (2020). 99 Polidoro, B. A. et al. The Loss of Species: Mangrove Extinction Risk and Geographic Areas of Global Concern. Plos One 5, e10095 (2010).

terms to economic services and manufactured capital. However, the sustainability of human kind on Earth may be ultimately compromised if the value of mangroves is neglected further in policy decisions. Ecosystem services valuation can assist in estimating their marginal value, to inform policy- and decision-makers. 101 It is important to address that ecosystem services and goods flow from ecosystems and watersheds that do not adhere to international borders and land ownership rights. For example, private land owners and ejidos own parcels adjacent to coastal lands that are unprotected, while mangroves are intricately connected to the ocean and surrounding ecosystems due to shared

100 Páez-Osuna, F. The environmental impact of shrimp aquaculture: a global perspective. Environ Pollut 112, 229–231 (2001). 101 Costanza, R. et al. The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387, 253–260 (1997).

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