GUIDE TO VALUING COASTAL WETLANDS
Image: East Trinity Inlet, QLD [Through The Looking Glass Studio | looking-glass.com.au]
Project level environmental economic accounting of blue carbon ecosystems
Coastal restoration projects result in many environmental and economic benefits, including increased biodiversity, carbon sequestration, improved fisheries, as well as cultural value to communities and First Nations people.
Measuring and accounting for the benefits of coastal blue carbon ecosystem restoration – the Guide (Version 1) recommends project-level approaches for measuring these outcomes and reporting them in a way that aligns with environmental accounting standards.
Overview
Funded by the Australian Government and in collaboration with universities and agencies across Australia, this project developed a guide on how to best value and measure success of restoration projects in blue carbon ecosystems.
The Guide provides 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 provides methods to count the real financial benefits provided by the restoration project, above and beyond carbon credits. The approach uses 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 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.
The Guide
In 2022, the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) commissioned a team led by Deakin University to develop a guide. The Guide outlines an approach to measure and account for the benefits of restoring coastal blue carbon ecosystems (mangroves, saltmarsh, seagrass).
The Guide introduces a process for reporting on the ecosystem services provided by coastal blue carbon ecosystems. These include: carbon storage, biodiversity, water purification, coastal protection, fish production, Traditional Owner cultural values, recreation and community values.
The Guide uses the United Nations System of Environmental Economic Accounting Framework (UN SEEA).
This Guide is a ‘working version’, which will be tested and refined by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). This includes further exploring the use of UN SEEA at a project-level. This work will help to understand and quantify the economic, environmental, and social changes from restoring blue carbon ecosystems. Methods on data collection and account design to report on the ecosystem services resulting from restoration may be refined in future versions.
Case studies
The team developed two case study reports to help show how the Guide can be used. They test an early draft of the guide’s proposed methods and approaches and include reflections and learnings from the authors.
The case studies were developed using existing data from two previously restored sites. The Guide has adapted the approaches to use it for current or on-going restoration projects.
Supporting media
Overview – The Guide [Download]
Overview – Case Studies [Download]
Video 1: Introduction to Environmental Economic Accounting
Video 2: Introduction to the Guide
Image: Hunter River, NSW [© 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)
Funding
Contacts: Dr Paul Carnell | Prof Peter Macreadie | Dr Vincent Raoult
The Guide was commissioned and funded by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). You may explore the Guide also through the DCCEEW website.
