A new perspective article highlights how co‑benefits reveal the true value of blue ecosystems
A new article, by Olivia Raquel Rendon, Dimitrios Kaloudis, and Nicola Jane Beaumont, Co‑benefits reveal the true value of blue ecosystems, highlights how limiting assessments to carbon sequestration alone significantly underestimates the value of blue carbon habitats.
The authors conducted a rapid evidence assessment of the monetary value of ecosystem co‑benefits and found that including its other services — such as pollutant breakdown — dramatically increases estimated economic value. According to the study, incorporating co‑benefits raises the monetary value of:
Saltmarsh by an order of magnitude
Seagrass by 50 times
Oyster beds and kelp by more than two orders of magnitude
The authors conclude that recognising co‑benefits greatly strengthens the case for investing in blue ecosystems and has strong potential to influence future financing strategies. They also identify key data gaps and recommend areas for further research.
The authors conclude that blue ecosystems are highly valuable for all the services they provide, not just carbon, especially water quality regulation and coastal protection. They also identify key data gaps and recommend areas for further research. In particular, they note that several important ecosystem services have not yet been valued across different ecosystems, leading to a systematic underestimation of their true economic contribution. Furthermore, they highlight that existing valuation methods can be improved, and that transferring economic values between regions or ecosystem types must be done with caution to avoid inaccurate or misleading estimates.
Assessment of available monetary valuations for ecosystem services and the key evidence gaps that persist for blue ecosystems