Valuing Ecosystem Services for Coastal Wetland Protection and Restoration: Progress and Challenges

Edward Barbier

doi:10.3390/resources2030213

Abstract

Coastal wetlands, such as marshes, mangroves and forested swamps, are in decline globally. Although considerable progress has been made in quantifying and valuing some of the key ecosystem goods and services provided by these habitats, fundamental challenges remain. The biggest challenge is inadequate knowledge to link changes in ecosystem structure and function to the production of valuable goods and services. Another problem is that very few ecosystem services are marketed. This review discusses recent advances in overcoming these challenges. To illustrate key valuation issues, the paper introduces three case studies from the US Gulf Coast state of Louisiana: quantifying ecosystem services and the 2012 Master Plan for coastal Louisiana; valuing storm protection by marsh in southeast Louisiana; and oil spills and the Natural Resource Damage Assessment approach to wetland compensation in lieu of restoration. The paper concludes with some final remarks on the state of coastal wetland valuation for protection and restoration.

Highlights

Coastal zones make up just 4% of the Earth’s total land area and 11% of the world’s oceans, yet they contain more than one third of the world’s population and account for 90% of marine fisheries catch [1]
In identifying the ecosystem services provided by natural environments, a common practice is to adopt the broad definition of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment that “ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems” [1]
Considerable coastal wetland loss has occurred in the United States, with the most significant declines occurring along the Gulf Coast [20,21,22]

Summary

Introduction

Coastal zones make up just 4% of the Earth’s total land area and 11% of the world’s oceans, yet they contain more than one third of the world’s population and account for 90% of marine fisheries catch [1]. Human activities are threatening many of the world’s remaining coastal wetlands and the benefits they provide [2,3,4,5] Their decline is intense and increasing worldwide, with 50% of marshes and 35%. The loss or change of vegetation in coastal ecosystems has affected these systems’ ability to protect against shore erosion, coastal flooding and storm events [9,10]. Such widespread and rapid transformation of coastal wetlands and their services suggests that it is important to understand further what is at stake in terms of critical benefits and values. The paper concludes with some final remarks on the state of coastal wetland valuation for protection and restoration

Valuing Coastal Wetland Ecosystem Goods and Services

Quantifying Ecosystem Services and the 2012 Master Plan for Coastal Louisiana

Valuing Storm Protection by Marsh in Southeast Louisiana

Oil Spills and the NRDA Approach to Wetland Compensation

Findings

Conclusions