GUIDE TO VALUING COASTAL WETLANDS
Project level Economic Accounting of Blue Carbon Ecosystems
Many restoration projects attempt to reverse the global losses of seagrasses, mangroves, and saltmarshes. However, these restoration projects are expensive, and it is difficult for restoration groups to determine how successful the restoration project has been and what broader benefits there might be to society from the project. This hinders investment into blue carbon ecosystem restoration.
Background
This project, funded by the Australian Government and in collaboration with universities and agencies across Australia, is developing a guide for groups setting up restoration projects in blue carbon ecosystems with how best to value and measure success. It will provide information on how to monitor the ecosystem being restored using scientifically backed data, so that managers can identify whether restoration has been effective. In addition, the guide will provide methods to count the real financial benefits provided by the restoration project, above and beyond carbon credits. The approach will use environmental economic accounting and will apply it to many aspects of blue carbon ecosystems such as social, cultural, and commercial values.
Two real-world blue carbon restoration case studies will demonstrate how the guide can be used to inform ongoing site management and assess the changes in value of flow-on benefits that have resulted from the restoration project. Trinity Inlet, located in Cairns, Queensland is notable due to its close ties with Traditional Owners who drove the management and restoration of this ecosystem. In contrast, Tomago wetlands in the Hunter River, New South Wales is near one of the most productive estuarine commercial fisheries in the state. Both wetlands have undergone restoration for decades, and these case studies assess the changes in value to society that have resulted from these efforts.
Image © Chris McCormack/Remember the Wild
Contributing scientists: Paul Carnell, Vincent Raoult, Emily Nicholson, Jacqui Pocklington, Peter Macreadie (Deakin University), Kym Whiteoak (CanopyEco), Michael Vardon (Australian National University), Abbie Rogers, Michael Burton, Fitalew Taye (University of Western Australia), Maria Fernanda Adame, Rod Connolly (Griffith University), Jeff Kelleway, Catherine E. Lovelock (University of Queensland), Melissa Nursey-Bray , Celeste Hill (University of Adelaide), Chris J Owers (University of Newcastle), Kerrylee Rogers, Emma Asbridge (University of Wollongong), Matthew D Taylor (NSW Department of Primary Industries), Will Glamore, Alice Harrison, Daniel Hewitt (University of New South Wales)
