Guidelines for coastal and marine ecosystem accounting
This project brief describes the scope and process for developing Guidance for how the protective services of mangroves and coral reefs can be included in national economic accounts to support development planning. This is an important step towards recognizing the critical value of coastal ecosystem services for adjacent human populations that are now regularly cited in both conservation and development literature with coral reefs and mangroves frequently singled out. Both mangroves and reefs are increasingly recognized for their role in natural coastal protection; i.e. for their value in reducing the impacts of coastal erosion and inundation during storms, as well as providing important co-benefits for fisheries production, tourism, and in the case of mangroves, carbon sequestration.