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

March 2022

ecosystems, ecosystem processes and species. 102 In that sense, while coastal lands in Mexico within 20 meters of the high-tide line, where mangroves are present, are owned by the Federal government, adjacent lands are also critical to their conservation. Many of those are owned by private landowners or ejidos and are unprotected. Restrictions on these adjacent parcels to protect the mangroves would result in costs to the landowners and ejidatarios, while many of the benefits are intangible for them and some benefits would go to other parties, e.g. domestic eco tourism operators. 103, 104 Creative methods for placing a value on intangible ecological benefits, capturing that value and transferring the resulting financial proceeds to the groups who own and control habitats have been used to protect Monarch butterfly habitats in Mexico through programs of payment for ecosystem services. 105, 106, 107 Similar approaches could be used to provide compensation for the ecosystem services provided by coastal wetlands in Mexico in order to create positive incentives for private landowners and local communities to conserve those ecosystems.

grow carbon reduction mechanisms—as part of a global consciousness regarding the urgent need to tackle climate change. Mexico noted its goal to reduce GHG emissions by 22% by 2030 (compared to a BAU scenario), including through Nature based Solutions, in its Nationally Determined Contributions delivered to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2020. Mangrove forests can play a key role in meeting these goals, as these ecosystems naturally mitigate emissions and store carbon, while also increasing the capacity for human adaptation to climate change .

Even though mangroves represent less than 0.1% of the world’s surface, 108 they sequester 13.5 Gt of carbon annually, accounting for 3% of the total forest carbon sequestration globally. The fringe mangrove and mudflats of the Bahía Magdalena wetland complex were found by Zulueta et al. (2013) to sequester 23-81 times more carbon than the surrounding desert scrub. 109 Importantly, Western Sandpipers flying over the marshes during high tide in Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Photo Victor Ayala-Perez Protection of Migratory Birds in the Inner Niger Delta (Mali). Hum Dimensions Wildl 13, 3–15 (2008). 107 Rubio-Cisneros, N. T. et al. Transnational Ecosystem Services: The Potential of Habitat Conservation for Waterfowl Through Recreational Hunting Activities. Hum Dimensions Wildl 19, 1–16 (2014). 108 Hamilton, S. E. & Casey, D. Creation of a high spatio ‐ temporal resolution global database of continuous mangrove forest cover for the 21st century (CGMFC ‐ 21). Global Ecol Biogeogr 25, 729–738 (2016). 109 Zulueta, R. C. et al. Aircraft Regional-Scale Flux Measurements over Complex Landscapes of Mangroves, Desert, and Marine Ecosystems of

CARBON SEQUESTRATION

Carbon markets attests to a global tendency to

102 Blaber, S. J. M. MANGROVES AND FISHES: ISSUES OF DIVERSITY, DEPENDENCE, AND DOGMA. BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE 80, 457–472 (2007). 103 Hoyt, E. THE WORLDWIDE VALUE AND EXTENT OF WHALE WATCHING. A SPECIAL REPORT FROM THE WHALE AND DOLPHIN CONSERVATION SOCIETY (1995). 104 Arcos-Aguilar, R. et al. Diving tourism in Mexico – Economic and conservation importance. Mar Policy 126, 104410 (2021). 105 Missrie, M. & Nelson, K. Direct Payments for Conservation: Lessons from the Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund. (2005). 106 Sultanian, E. & Beukering, P. J. H. van. Economics of Migratory Birds: Market Creation for the

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