Atlas of Ocean Wealth

M ARK S PALDING, R OBERT D.
B RUMBAUGH AND E MILY L ANDIS
Atlas of
Ocean Wealth
We are telling a story
that is as old as the oceans themselves,
but we are re-telling it from a new vantage point –
Ocean Wealth
Mission Published June 2016
The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the The Nature Conservancy
lands and waters on which all life depends. 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100
Arlington, VA 22203-1606
Phone: 703-841-5300
Vision
Website: www.nature.org
The Nature Conservancy envisions a world where the diversity
of life thrives, and people act to conserve nature for its own
Suggested Citation
sake and its ability to fulfill our needs and enrich our lives.
Spalding, MD; Brumbaugh RD; and Landis, E (2016).
Atlas of Ocean Wealth.
Values
The Nature Conservancy. Arlington, VA.
Integrity beyond reproach
Respect for people, communities and cultures

The designations employed and the presentation of material
Commitment to diversity in this publication do not imply the expression of any
opinion whatsoever on the part of The Nature Conservancy
One Conservancy
or the authors of this report concerning the legal status of
Tangible, lasting results any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or
concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
The global administrative boundaries used in the atlas
maps are from the GADM database of administrative areas,
available here: http://gadm.org/about
Informed by science,
communications and
policy work, Mapping
Ocean Wealth illustrates
all that the ocean does for
us today, so that we make
smarter decisions for the
ocean of tomorrow.
The Nature Conservancy would like to recognize the contribution of the following organizations.
The Mapping Ocean Wealth initiative along with the Atlas of Ocean Wealth was made possible by the generosity
of the following institutions and individuals. We would particularly like to thank The World Bank Group and
Lyda Hill Foundation for early support to conceptualize and launch the Mapping Ocean Wealth Initiative, as well
as Diane Van Wyck, Carnival Foundation and Microsoft for ongoing support.
Table of Contents
Contributing Authors ................................................................................................................................................................... iii Part 1: A Host of Services..........................................................................................................................................................1
Acknowledgments............................................................................................................................................................................. iv Making Fish ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Foreword ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ vii Breaking Waves ................................................................................................................................................................................... 24

Lyda Hill and Maria Damanaki
Cleaning Up ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 36
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................................................................ ix
Storing Carbon ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 40
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................................ xiv
The Value of Visitors .................................................................................................................................................................... 46
The Value of Just Being There ......................................................................................................................................... 56
Part 2: Changing the Way We See Nature ................................................................................................ 63
Bringing Natural Values to Bear .................................................................................................................................. 64
Adding Up the Benefits .............................................................................................................................................................66
Managing and Protecting Services ..........................................................................................................................70
Paying What is Owed ................................................................................................................................................................ 84
A Future Vision .................................................................................................................................................................................... 90
Sources and Technical Notes......................................................................................................................................... 92
Table of Contents i
Contributing Authors
Foreword The Value of Visitors
Lyda Hill (Lyda Hill Foundation) Lauretta Burke (World Resources Institute), Cara Daneel (University of
Maria Damanaki (The Nature Conservancy) Cambridge), Mariana Walther Mendoza (The Nature Conservancy),
Glaudy Perdanahardja (The Nature Conservancy)
Making Fish
Bringing Natural Values to Bear
Philine zu Ermgassen (University of Cambridge), Jonathan Grabowski
(Northeastern University), Alistair Harborne (University of Queensland), Pawan Patil (World Bank Group)
Alison Green (The Nature Conservancy), Andrew F. Johnson (Scripps
Institution of Oceanography), Marcia Moreno-Báez (Centro de Adding Up the Benefits
Biodiversidad Marina y Conservación), Andrés Cisneros Montemayor Linwood Pendleton (Duke University), Evangalia Drakou
(The University of British Columbia), Alvin Suárez (Scripps Institution (University of West Brittany)
of Oceanography), Octavio Aburto-Oropeza (Scripps Institution of
Oceanography)
Managing and Protecting Services
Breaking Waves Joanna Smith (TNC Canada)
Michael W. Beck (The Nature Conservancy), Iñigo Losada (IH Cantabria),

Borja Reguero (The Nature Conservancy), Pelayo Menendez (IH Cantabria), Enhancing Services
Lauretta Burke (World Resources Institute) Boze Hancock (The Nature Conservancy)
Cleaning Up Paying What is Owed

Boze Hancock (The Nature Conservancy) and Philine zu Ermgassen Peter Wheeler (The Nature Conservancy)
(University of Cambridge)
Storing Carbon
Leah Glass (Blue Ventures)
Contributing Authors iii

Acknowledgments
The Mapping Ocean Wealth team is a global partnership of
ecosystem services specialists composed of many organizations
and individuals that provided advice, support and contributions
to this Atlas of Ocean Wealth.
Atlas Production
Map preparation: Rick Tingey (Spatial Support Systems, LLC),
Zach Ferdaña (The Nature Conservancy), Laura Flessner
(The Nature Conservancy),
Book design: Paul Gormont (Apertures Inc.)
Copy-editor: Andrew Myers
Coordination, planning, design: Caroline Spruill (The Nature Conservancy)
Mapping Ocean Wealth’s Advisory Team:

Lauretta Burke (WRI), Marea Hatziolos, Elaine Heldewier (Carnival
Corporations & plc), Carter Ingram (EY), Les Kaufmann (Boston University),
Christian Neumann (GRID-Arendal), Pawan G Patil (World Bank Group),
Linwood Pendleton (Duke University), Tracy Rouleau (NOAA),
Rashid Sumaila (University of British Columbia).
The Nature Conservancy’s Ocean Wealth Steering Committee:

Charles Bedford, Shannon Crownover, Dietmar Grimm, Lynne Hale,
Julia Kashkashian, Marianne Kleiberg, Skyli McAfee, Jen Molnar,
Aurelio Ramos, Lynn Scarlett, Chrissy Schwinn, Peter Wheeler
The Mapping Ocean Wealth Central Team Amanda Wrona- Meadows (The Nature Conservancy. Communications),
Imen Meliane (Policy), Johanna Polsenberg (CI. Ocean Health Index),
Rob Brumbaugh (The Nature Conservancy. Project Director),
Elizabeth Schuster (The Nature Conservancy. Shellfish), Fernando Secaira
Mark Spalding (The Nature Conservancy. Senior Scientist), Emily Landis
(The Nature Conservancy. Coastal Protection), Caroline Spruill (The Nature
(The Nature Conservancy. Project Manager), Vera Agostini (The Nature
Conservancy. Communications), Spencer Wood (Natural Capital Project.
Conservancy. Pelagic), Mike Beck (The Nature Conservancy. Coastal
Tourism), J.E.N. Veron (Coral Reef Research, Intrinsic Value, Coral
Protection), Boze Hancock (The Nature Conservancy. Shellfish), Philine zu
Diversity Map)
Ermgassen (University of Cambridge. Fisheries), James Byrne (The Nature
Conservancy. Caribbean), Chris Gillies (The Nature Conservancy. Australia),
Jennifer Greene (The Nature Conservancy. U.S. Atlantic Coast), Expert Contributions on Regional Ecosystem Services
Glaudy Perdanahardja (The Nature Conservancy. Indonesia), The following individuals are in addition to the considerable input provided
Elizabeth Terk (The Nature Conservancy. Micronesia), Mariana Walther by contributing authors and central team members.
Mendoza (The Nature Conservancy. Gulf of California), Katie Mandes
Muhammad Imran Amin (The Nature Conservancy. Indonesia), Luki Andrianto
(The Nature Conservancy. Communications).
(PKSPL IPB. Indonesia), Pablo Arenas (Instituto Nacional de Pesca. Gulf of
California) Diana Bermudez (The Nature Conservancy. Gulf of California),
Expert Contributions Juan Bezaury (The Nature Conservancy. Gulf of California), Eddie Game
The following individuals are in addition to the considerable input provided (The Nature Conservancy. Micronesia), Alfredo Girón Nava (Scripps Institution
by contributing authors and central team members. of Oceanography. Gulf of California), Yimnang Golbuu (Palau International
Coral Reef Center. Micronesia), Natalie Holland (The Nature Conservancy.
Joscelyn Ashpole (University of Cambridge. Tourism), Dominique Benzaken
Australia), Peter Houk (University of Guam. Micronesia), Alan Koropitan
(GLISPA Policy), Tanya Bryan (GRID- Arendal. Ecosystem Services),
(Surya University. Indonesia), Cristina Lasch (The Nature Conservancy.
Jesse Cleary (Duke University. EBSAs), Bryan DeAngelis (The Nature
Gulf of California), Trina Leberer (The Nature Conservancy. Micronesia),
Conservancy. Shellfish), Fanny Douvere (UNESCO. Intrinsic value),
Maria Lascurain Leon (The Nature Conservancy. Gulf of California),
Kirsten Evans (The Nature Conservancy. Policy), Zach Ferdaña (The Nature
Steve Lindfield (University of Guam. Micronesia), Peter Mumby (University of
Conservancy. Coastal Protection, Mapping), Laura Flessner (The Nature
Queensland. Micronesia), Mirza Pedju (The Nature Conservancy. Indonesia),
Conservancy. Coastal Protection, Mapping), Emma Garnett
Nate Peterson (The Nature Conservancy. Micronesia), Hugh Possingham
(University of Cambridge. Fisheries), Patrick Halpin (Duke University.
(University of Queensland. Micronesia), Gondan Renosari (The Nature
EBSAs), Steven Katona (CI. Ocean Health Index), James Kay (TripAdvisor.
Conservancy. Indonesia),
Tourism), Jihyun Lee (Convention on Biological Diversity. EBSA),
Steve Schill (The Nature Conservancy. Caribbean), Lida Pet Soede (Hatfield
Steven Lutz (GRID-Arendal. Carbon), Tom McCann (The Nature
Indonesia. Indonesia), Steven Victor (The Nature Conservancy. Micronesia).
Conservancy. Communications), Anna McIvor (University of Cambridge,
Coastal protection), Bruce McKenney (TNC, Biodiversity offsets),
Acknowledgments v
M A K I N G F I S H
Foreword
Oceans were the crucible from which life emerged, billions of years ago. early adopters, are providing pathways to integrate this knowledge into
economic development funding, private-sector investment, and informed
Over the course of human history, oceans have nourished people, provided
management to protect oceans globally.
a byway for goods and travelers across vast distances, and allowed
humans to develop, innovate, and flourish as a species. We exist, because We have taken the important first steps with the Mapping Ocean
oceans provide for us. Wealth initiative and already have a new understanding of oceans,
along with new insights, about where to focus our attention going
In our lifetime, the oceans have changed from being viewed as an
forward. This Atlas of Ocean Wealth provides a glimpse at this new
inexhaustible resource to an imperiled one. The food, energy, and
knowledge—and new ways of applying it—that will help secure
enjoyment that oceans offer—long taken for granted—are no longer a
oceans’ wealth and our collective future.
certainty. Scientists and fishers alike have pointed to signs of trouble, from
declining fish catches, to warming ocean temperatures, to disappearing
habitats. Our seas are rising in response to a changing climate,
encroaching onto land, threatening some of our greatest cities and placing
hundreds of millions of people at risk from storms. All of this jeopardizes
human economic well-being.
Lyda Hill, Chairman Maria Damanaki,
While the challenges are urgent, they are not insurmountable. Solving Managing Director for Oceans
LH Holdings, Inc. &
them, however, will require bold new commitments and partnerships to
Lyda Hill Foundation The Nature Conservancy
preserve ocean habitats and the benefits they provide to humanity. It also
will require a new and deeper understanding of the way oceans do that;
a new kind of ocean knowledge that shows us not just how these benefits
are produced, but also where.
Developing this new knowledge alone is not sufficient. It must be made
widely available, adopted, and applied to shape future investments in
economic development. Doing so will help lift people out of poverty,
in ways that sustain, rather than diminish, the oceans’ ability to produce
benefits for people and nature.
Mapping Ocean Wealth is an initiative born from this commitment—
to clarify the role of ocean habitats in supporting human well-being,
using new approaches and new thinking by scientists from leading
organizations around the world. This effort is about more than just
developing innovative science. It is about ensuring that this science
is harnessed, focused, and applied to support the important work of
ocean stewards, business leaders, investors, and communities around
the world. The World Bank, Carnival Corporation & PLC, and the U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), among other
Foreword vii
Executive Summary
The Atlas of Ocean Wealth is the largest collection to date of information about Part 1: A Host of Services
the economic, social and cultural values of coastal and marine habitats from
all over the world. It is a synthesis of innovative science, led by The Nature
Making Fish
Conservancy (TNC), with many partners around the world. Through these
efforts, we’ve gathered vast new datasets from both traditional and less likely Many habitats generate fish or enhance fish populations that provide
sources. nutrition and economic benefits. We have learned much about how
that production can vary across habitats, space and even across time.
The work includes more than 35 novel and critically important maps that
Our conceptual approach is, first, to understand the natural processes of
show how nature’s value to people varies widely from place to place. They
fish generation (standing stock or production) and enhancement by
also illustrate nature’s potential. These maps show that we can accurately
particular habitats, and then to model and map the social and economic
quantify the value of marine resources. Further, by enumerating such values,
forces which generate fishing pressure and catch value.
we can encourage their protection or enhancement for the benefit of people
all around the world. In summary, it clearly articulates not just that we need Over 200 million people live close to mangroves. Our first global model
nature, but how much we need it, and where. shows that the countries generating the largest overall fish catches are
Nigeria, Indonesia, Brazil and Mexico, but some of the most productive
What’s Inside? mangroves by area include the extensive mangroves in Central and West
Africa, Central America, and even the few remaining mangroves of China
The Atlas of Ocean Wealth illuminates a great array of benefits: from fish and Viet Nam.
production to tourism, water purification to coastal protection. It distills
findings from a host of experts working around the world who have A new study by our team shows that a single hectare of seagrass in
generated novel models and detailed maps of these benefits. southern Australia will generate an additional 30,000 fish into a bay or
estuary every year, with a commercial fishery enhancement value of some
Ecosystem service values are not distributed uniformly throughout the US$24,000. Our own work on saltmarshes is still in development, but
world. Our work shows, over and over, that some places produce more existing studies suggest that a hectare of saltmarsh will generate 235
“ocean wealth” from a particular service than others. Understanding and kilograms of shrimp and 170 kilograms of blue crab—both highly valuable
applying this fundamentally new kind of knowledge is critical for future fishery species—in the Gulf of Mexico each year.
management of ocean space.
Oyster habitats are among the most threatened habitats globally, and 85
Broadly, the Atlas is divided into two sections: Part 1 explores the benefits percent have been lost, but we now know that a single hectare of oyster reef
that natural ecosystems provide to people, sequentially exploring individual adds 3,200 adult blue crabs to the fishery each year in the Gulf of Mexico
ecosystem services; Part 2 considers the approaches for applying and, further, that across the 31 major bays and estuaries of the US for which
such information in the world of marine resource and environmental we have data, remaining oyster habitat is still generating an additional
management, economics and financing. 185,000 metric tons of fish annually.
Working at more local scales, we have supported completely unique
exercises to map critical fish habitats, including both rocky reef and
seaweeds in both the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Maine. In both
cases, we are also generating data on fish communities from both field and
fisheries data. In the Gulf of California, some 23,000 small-scale fishers
Executive Summary ix
are catching 28,000 metric tons of fish worth US$19 million annually, but Coral reefs provide some level of shelter along over 150,000 kilometers of
such catch is not sustainable. New maps produced by Mapping Ocean the world’s tropical coastlines, benefitting some 63 million people in over
Wealth work will be invaluable in helping to better manage these fisheries. 100 countries. Using new high-resolution modeling of flood hazards, we can
Further offshore, our work in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia is helping develop estimates of the benefits of reefs under different conditions. Thus,
to show the linkage between sea temperature and local ocean productivity for Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Mexico, the annual expected benefit
for important pelagic species such as tuna, and to show how this fish of reefs exceeds US$450 million per year.
productivity is highly concentrated in certain places at particular times.
Coral reefs are celebrated for their abundance of fish and indeed people Cleaning Up
from the world’s coral reef nations eat 50 percent more seafood than the Many ecosystems can help reduce the volumes of both sediment and of
global average. Our global model reveals that the highest catches are in pollution in estuarine and coastal waters. This is especially important in
places where populations and markets are most concentrated, but also that a world where the numbers and extent of dead zones are increasing and
high-value species are targeted even on the world’s most remote coral reefs. damaging both fishing and the tourism industry.
To look more closely, we supported a ground-breaking new study of reef
fish in Micronesia: mapping fishing pressure and fish stocks using ecological A single oyster can filter 180 liters of water a day, but while oysters once
survey data from over 1,100 locations and directly showed the considerable had the capacity to filter almost all water coming into bays and estuaries
variation both in background productivity of reefs and in fishing pressure. in the US, this capacity has collapsed on the Pacific coast and declined by
Combining models, we can show areas of likely gains from reduced fishing— more than 80 percent along the US East Coast and Gulf of Mexico coast.
high value target species, such as grouper and snapper, will increase by 100-
350 percent in heavily fished areas in the absence of fishing Storing Carbon
Mangroves, saltmarshes and seagrass beds are among the most productive
Breaking Waves habitats on the planet. They not only store large amounts of carbon in their
The coastal zone is a place of high impact from natural hazards—insurers living biomass, they also sequester it long-term in the surrounding soil.
have paid out more than US$300 billion in damages from coastal storms The addition of dead plant matter to the soil represents long-term removal
in the past 10 years, but the role of coastal ecosystems in reducing impacts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
has been largely overlooked or ignored. They influence three key processes: Since 1990, coastal wetlands have sequestered 9.6 metric Gigatons
1) wave attenuation; 2) storm surge attenuation; and 3) maintaining of CO2e, equivalent to the emissions of France over the same period.
shoreline elevation. Working with the World Bank, we have developed Unfortunately, these habitats are being quickly lost resulting in 0.15–1.02
Expected Damage Function models to predict additional damage to people billion metric tons of CO2 released annually (equivalent to burning 112 billion
and infrastructure from the loss of natural habitat barriers. gallons of gasoline).
Among Mangroves forests, just 100 meters of mangrove barrier can reduce Mangroves have over double the mean biomass of tropical forests, per
wave heights by two-thirds. unit area, in general. Indonesia is by far the largest mangrove carbon
Building oyster reefs adjacent to shore in the USA can reduce the cost nation, with over 700 million metric tons of above-ground biomass, but
of every meter of coastal protection by over US$750, compared to other even small countries, such as Palau, Brunei, Darussalam and the Solomon
engineering options. The Nature Conservancy has developed an online Islands, have very high biomass per unit area, averaging over 250 metric
Risk Explorer tool enabling users to identify optimal places for oyster tons of biomass per hectare. Groups such as Blue Ventures are leading
reef restoration along the US Gulf of Mexico in order to maximum risk the charge to link mangrove conservation activities to international
reduction gains. recognition of carbon credits.
x Atlas of Ocean Wealth

The Value of Visitors Part 2: Bringing Natural Values to Bear
Travel and tourism are one of the world’s largest industries, and coastal In Part 2, we used a different set of lenses to assess how ocean wealth
tourism is one of the largest components of this industry. Much depends information could inform management decisions, investments and
on nature, although this dependency—for clean water, superlative conservation outcomes.
views, white sand beaches, seafood and more—is often overlooked.
Nature-based tourism, including fishing, diving and wildlife watching, Adding Up the Benefits
represents a particularly strong and fast-growing sector.
The coastal areas of the world are among the fastest growing and most
For coral reefs, we built up a unique, high-resolution view using a densely populated, while a host of new economic opportunities are arising
compilation of large datasets including locations of national spending, on and offshore. Many of the world’s nations are embracing the concept of
hotels, dive sites and photographs uploaded to the Internet. This shows that a “Blue Economy,” where sustainability is at the heart of marine and coastal
reef related tourism is widespread in 102 of the 117 countries and territories development, with ecosystem services protected or enhanced.
with coral reefs, with over 350 million people annually travelling to the coral
reef coasts of the world. This value, estimated at US$37.8 billion each year, Assessments of individual ecosystem services are an important base for
is only generated by about 30 percent of all the world’s coral reefs. The rest compatibility and trade-off analyses. However, only in accounting for the
are currently too remote for visitors. bundling of multiple services in any location can we truly place the full
value of ecosystem services into a planning and management context.
Mangroves are less well known as tourism destinations, but we developed
The benefits that people receive from ecosystems may accrue far from
a novel analytical technique, retrieving 150,000 reviews from TripAdvisor
where they are produced, and mapping these service flows can identify
that mention mangroves. From these, we located over 2,000 attractions
distant stakeholders with an interest in a given location or habitat.
in 86 countries where visitors regularly enjoy mangroves for boat tours,
boardwalks, kayaking, fishing and other activities.
Managing, Protecting and Enhancing Services
Direct experience of wildlife watching for charismatic species, such as
whales and turtles, are also increasingly high-value components of tourism. Given the clamor of different interests, users and stakeholders to operate
Some 600,000 people have been estimated to spend over US$300 in the sea, nations are increasingly turning to ocean-use planning to
million annually to watch sharks, securing some 10,000 jobs worldwide. develop rational and sustainable allocation of ocean space for various
Our regional studies in the Gulf of California quantified nearly 900,000 purposes, and nearly 30 percent of the world’s EEZs are predicted to have
nature-based visits a year generating over half-a-billion US dollars. approved marine spatial plans by 2025. It will be critical to build reliably
In Indonesia, aggregations of manta rays in just 11 sites are supporting quantified and mapped ecosystem service values into this planning. To this
nearly US$10 million in annual dive expenditures. end, decision-support tools are increasingly available to aid the utilization
of marine ecosystem services information, including the online Atlas of
Ocean Wealth at www.oceanwealth.org.
The Value of Just Being There
As an example, in Belize, ecosystem services were an integral part of
The more “intrinsic” or non-use values of nature include cultural, traditional,
zoning and management planning that used the Natural Capital Project’s
spiritual and well-being-related values which have proved difficult to
InVEST ecosystem services models and input from stakeholders to
quantify. Scientific value is another important component and considerable
evaluate alternative scenarios that included diverse services such as
importance has been attached to mapping aspects of biodiversity. Informed
spiny lobster fisheries, tourism, recreation and coastal protection from
by biodiversity information, expert-led processes have identified over 200
storms and floods.
ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs) under the
Convention on Biological Diversity, while 47 marine and coastal World The conservation of ecosystem services has always had a central role
Heritage sites have been singled out for their “Outstanding Universal Value.” in the marine protected areas agenda, but we have shown that the
Executive Summary xi
placement of the current global array of over 10,000 sites does not always The quantification of ecosystem services provides an enormous opportunity
overlap with the most important areas for ecosystem services generation. for supporting innovative financing for conservation. If their potential
market value is clearly demonstrated, many ecosystems can hold their
With the new mapping efforts highlighted in this work, it may be possible to
own in a market setting when placed alongside alternatives that may
begin to identify Areas of Critical Importance for Ecosystem Services and to
lead to ecosystem degradation or destruction. Attractive financial returns
build these in to prioritization processes. Such knowledge might also help
identified by this type of valuation will likely have far greater influence on
to inform efforts at the national level, including those being encouraged by
many business/investment actors than appeals to less-defined qualitative
regional initiatives such as the Micronesia Challenge, Caribbean Challenge
measures of importance.
and Coral Triangle Initiative.
Simple, market-based approaches are already widespread, including
The possibility for large-scale restoration of coastal and marine habitats
fisheries licensing to visitor fees for protected areas. The development of
has grown rapidly in recent years. Ecosystem service valuation can provide
novel markets represents an opportunity that is somewhat nascent, but
considerable impetus for such efforts by enabling the accounting of returns
carbon markets may provide a significant opportunity for the protection and
on restoration investment. Such returns can be quite high: in Alabama, USA,
restoration of coastal wetlands. The development of blue bonds may present
oyster reefs are reducing coastal erosion while generating significant returns
another opportunity. It might simply include the incorporation of marine
to local fisheries. In the state of West Bengal, India, mangrove restoration is
and coastal projects into existing green bond portfolios—investment-ready
providing both local benefits, in the form of shoreline projection and flood
projects where returns were clearly expected, enabling conservation or
risk reduction, as well as global benefits, in the form of carbon storage.
sustainable blue development to access novel funding sources.
In the Florida Keys, USA, the business community is directly funding
coral restoration, making the direct link between ecosystem quality and
tourism value. Concluding Thoughts
The world’s oceans are at a crossroads. Economic investment and
Paying What is Owed development pose considerable risks, but also great opportunities for
sustaining the oceans, if the interests of society and nature are aligned.
Value can be expressed in many ways, including jobs, food security, health
and, of course, monetary metrics. Many of our initial models focus on The size and scope of the information gathered here is unprecedented and
defining and mapping the ecological production function, which may be represents a major leap forward in understanding how and where ocean
measured in metric tons of carbon stored, kilograms of fish caught, numbers benefits are produced. The new knowledge represented in the Atlas of
of visitors received and so on. Ultimately, however, monetization of such Ocean Wealth should drive a sea change in attitudes toward marine and
values can be critical in ensuring their uptake and use in mainstream coastal ecosystems, and needs to be used to create a similar drive for their
planning and policy. Thankfully, a host of techniques are available to protection and conservation for our own sakes. In an era of blue growth, and
support the development of such values. a rapid expansion of more holistic management of our oceans, we have an
opportunity to place ecosystems and the benefits they provide for people at
The coastal defense role of nature is one area where there may be
the core of planning management. There is no time to waste.
considerable opportunities and The Nature Conservancy is now engaged
with the reinsurance sector to support the incorporation of natural coastal
protection into insurance models. Globally, we spend 400-times more
on coastal gray infrastructure than we do on coastal conservation, but
if the protective role of reefs and mangrove belts could be worked into
the insurance models there could be a change of perspective, with more
widespread efforts to maintain or enhance ecosystems that can provide
highly effective, low-cost coastal defense.
xii Atlas of Ocean Wealth

Executive Summary xiii
Introduction
In a rapidly urbanizing world, it is often easy for people to forget how dependent we are on nature. Outside our homes, schools and work places,
nature is constantly at work, creating the wealth of our planet, and our lives. It’s easy to overlook this, particularly when this wealth is in the
ocean, where it can seem both remote and inexhaustible. It is neither.
Nature’s benefits Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem services are the benefits natural ecosystems provide to people.
That broad definition covers a vast array—from the fish sold in a market or Water Quality Enhancement
served in a family home, to the invisible influence of a seagrass meadow Removal of pollutants or toxins,
improved water clarity
removing some of the world’s excess carbon dioxide, subtly shifting the
chemical balance of both the water and the air above. Coastal Protection
Reduction of waves, flood Food Production
Water
Documenting these benefits has never been more important, in large part mitigation, elevation of land
at coastal margins Chemistry
Fish, shellfish, algae
because they are being lost at unprecedented rates. This comes as nature Wave
Modification
Secondary
itself is being profoundly altered through direct conversion from economic Modification Production
development, pollution and ineffective management. The cost of losing Carbon Storage Ecosystem: Biochemicals/Pharmaceuticals
and Sequestration
natural benefits may be immense—for example, poorly-managed fisheries Carbon held in living biomass,
Species, Components of medicinal/health
Soil Structures and Evolution products (fish oils), discoveries
worldwide cost an estimated US$83 billion every year. in soil and offshore in water column
Formation Processes & Species of pharmaceuticals
and deep sediments
Diversity
This Atlas of Ocean Wealth shows that it is possible to quantify these
Habitat
services spatially, enabling a much clearer picture of not only where these Construction
Primary
Cultural and Spiritual Identities Production
benefits are produced, but how much they vary from place to place. With Existence of biodiversity,
Other Products
Timber, biofuels, fibre,
such detailed information, it is then possible to know what could be lost seascapes, iconic species, vistas in
support of cultural or faith-based
biogenic sand, aquarium fish,
pearls, coral
in specific locations, depending on the decisions being made today and beliefs and identities
Tourism and Recreation
tomorrow. This kind of knowledge is new and, hopefully, can drive a sea Enhancement
Diving, whale-watching, fishing plus
change in perception about the ‘limitless’ ocean and enable a greater sense beaches, vistas, clean calm water
of shared ownership of Ocean Wealth.
Ecosystem services (tan boxes) are often defined as the benefits obtained by people from nature. They are derived from
Improved understanding of the processes underpinning ecosystem services a series of “supporting services” (multi-colored circles), which are key elements of the complex patterns and interactions
can also reveal what services have already been lost, and indeed what that lie at the heart of every ecosystem
could be gained in the future. Our groundbreaking work on the historic and
present extent of oyster reefs has enabled us, for example, to show the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and The Economics of Environment and
extraordinary filtration power that has been lost due to the demise of oyster Biodiversity (TEEB) reports.
reef ecosystem in the bays and estuaries of the USA (p. 38). But similar
The various benefits provided by nature are often classed into three
approaches can also be used to drive, and to prioritize, investments in
broad groupings. Provisioning services are those that provide tangible,
restoration, as described in Part 2 (p. 80).
harvestable goods: in the oceans these include fish and shellfish for food,
The dependence of people on nature, and the need to protect nature to but also timber from mangroves, algae and health products. Regulating
ensure continued benefits, are central tenets of international agreements services are the benefits obtained from the role that ecosystems play in
and policy recommendations, such as the Sustainable Development Goals. regulating our environment—these include coastal protection and the
They were also called out in the more detailed assessments such as the prevention of erosion, water purification and carbon storage, among others.
xiv Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

Finally, cultural services are the many non-material benefits that are derived Through this work, and incorporating and building on the work of others in
from nature, including recreation, spiritual, intellectual and cultural benefits. the field, we recognized a common three-stage approach for the larger-scale
quantification and mapping of benefits.
Underpinning these different benefits are the ecosystems themselves—
complex matrixes of plants and animals that both respond to and directly 1 – Review – to ensure we find ALL of the best possible information—field
modify their surrounding physical and chemical environments through data and expert knowledge from around the world—to understand and
a complex and dynamic series of interactions. Many of these processes describe a particular ecosystem service
and interactions—such as primary production, nutrient cycling, oxygen
2 – Model – use this information in the most effective way to develop a
production—are described as supporting services, which, in turn and by
model that describes in quantitative terms what is known about the
definition, enable other ecosystem services to arise. At the same time, it is
processes supporting ecosystem services
important to realize that these processes continue unabated, even when
there are no human beneficiaries to use them. 3 – Map – develop a map using the underlying drivers of a service, or the
best possible proxies for them, to present a continuous image of the
Ecosystem service values may be measured in many ways—the sustainable
value of that service over geographic space
catch of fish in kilograms per year, the percentage a wave’s energy may
be reduced, the metric tons of carbon sequestered in a saltmarsh. Such This approach brings forth an important observation that, while we
numbers depend on both the local ecology and on the social and economic can always improve our work with more data, there is often enough
settings in which the ecosystems exist. They vary enormously from place to information out there to serve as the raw materials from which we can
place, but they are still calculable numbers, and from a growing host of field build models and maps.
studies we are able to tell a bigger story. We can map ocean wealth. The work gave birth to the Mapping Ocean Wealth approach. The vision
was to move beyond individual studies of single ecosystems and services
The Mapping Ocean Wealth Approach towards a multifaceted approach, building on these previous studies to
Scientists working within The Nature Conservancy have been engaged map a range of services for a suite of ecosystems. Working across different
with the challenge of quantifying ecosystem service values for a number scales and engaging expert partners from around the world refined and
of years. Early work included a focus on understanding the ecological and validated this approach. Thanks in particular to some visionary funders, we
economic benefits of oyster reef conservation and restoration in the USA, were able to build out a program of work that included global-scale studies
where significant investments have been made over the fifteen years in and regional support to TNC and partners in Indonesia, the Caribbean,
a partnership with the NOAA Restoration Center. More recently areas the USA, Micronesia, and Mexico (Gulf of California). Initially, a large
of focus include understanding the role of mangroves and coral reefs in part of this work has focused on building large-scale models for individual
breaking waves, reducing the energy that otherwise causes erosion, flooding ecosystem-service and habitat pairings—mangrove-carbon, oyster reef-fish
and damage to structures along the shore. enhancement, coral reef-tourism, and so on. In most cases, this is work that
has never been done before, so we have broken new ground—on multiple
fronts simultaneously. In parallel, the engagement of regional teams and
collaborators has meant that we have begun at least to understand how
higher resolution information and more focused engagement may have a
role to play in supporting management decisions on the ground. Although
we are still at early stages, our work in the Gulf of California, Gulf of Maine,
Indonesia and Micronesia are already proving to be of direct interest in the
processes of ocean and coastal management.
REVIEW MODEL MAP
Introduction xv
Reporting “Value” The Atlas of Ocean Wealth
There is often a default assumption that value implies a monetary metric, This Atlas provides a broad review of marine and coastal ecosystem services,
but this is not always the case. Monetary values are important, but they with a particular focus on the initial findings from the first phase of work on
are not the sole—nor often the best—metric. Judged by dollar values, the Mapping Ocean Wealth. In pausing at this juncture, we are able to compile
major commercial fisheries would dominate many reviews. The world’s and display spatial ocean ecosystem services maps around an array of
tuna fisheries alone are estimated to be worth over US$40 billion annually. ecosystems and geographies, and illuminate how these maps are created.
By contrast, in terms of employment, small-scale fisheries are vastly more
Part 1 summarizes current understanding of the value of marine and coastal
important. There are an estimated 39.4 million marine capture fishers in the
ecosystem services. It progresses through six broad classes of ecosystem
world, of which 99 percent are small-scale and even these vast numbers fail
services: food production (1 - Making Fish), coastal protection (2 - Breaking
to do justice to the critical nutritional, health and security functions provided
Waves), water purification (3 - Cleaning Up), carbon storage and sequestration
by such small-scale fisheries, often in places where alternative livelihoods
(4 - Storing Carbon), tourism and recreation (5 - the Value of Visitors), as well
and food-sources are limited.
as a range of non-use values (6 - the Value of Just Being There). While we do
In this work we have sought to think about value in broader terms. If we can not purport to provide a comprehensive coverage, we provide details in each
tell, for example, how many fish are caught from an oyster reef, then that of these sufficient to give a powerful impression of not only the ecosystem
can form a fundamental base for considering different values—jobs, social benefits, but also the approaches for quantifying and mapping them.
security, local income, tax revenues or foreign exchange earnings. We call
these numbers the ecological production functions—those components of
the ecosystem output that generate value as human benefits.
The Science Matrix
Nature Dependent
Fisheries Coastal Water Quality Carbon Storage Recreation
Enhancement Protection Improvement and Sequestration and Tourism
Tourist Inspiration, Mangrove p.4 p.28 p.42, 44 p.50

Expenditure Science, Culture
Coral Reef p.18, 20 p.32, 34 X X p.48
Foreign Families
Exchange, Tax Fed Rocky Reef p.8, p.14 X X X p.54
Kilograms Saltmarsh p.10 p.30

of Protein
Jobs in
Seagrass
Tourism Sector p.10 p.30 X
Shellfish
Market Ecosystems p.12 p.30 p.38 X X
Number Sale
of Visitors Fishing Pelagic
Jobs Ecosystems p.16 X X p.52, 54
A matrix of some of the main ecosystems and the main services they provide. Page numbers refer to sections in Part 1 of this
The value of a coral reef can be told in a multitude of ways. A simplistic dollar value based upon a single use may threaten book and shading indicates that these have received some level of review under Mapping Ocean Wealth. X denotes services
the lives and livelihoods of others who see or use the reef in a different way. that are not provided to any significant degree by these ecosystems.
xvi Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

The many maps, and the underpinning models, demonstrate clearly that we Working Together
already know enough to build ecosystem services into the wider discussions
The work to map ocean wealth could not possibly be undertaken by
of society around resource use and investments in economic development.
a single organization. Many others have already been working in this
We bring this into sharper focus in Part 2, exploring how we can bring the
field for years and are already well advanced in particular aspects.
maps to bear in a wider context, to influence how we perceive, use, and
The Mapping Ocean Wealth project has nevertheless enabled
manage ecosystems and the benefits they produce. This requires us to
considerable new work, and the forging of new partnerships and
move from the atomized view of individual services to the holistic vision
collaborations. The pages of this Atlas are a testament to this—with
of ecosystem service bundles overlapping and interacting. It requires us contributors from universities, NGOs, governments, private sector
to think about how values themselves move across geographic space. It companies and international agencies working in a network in countries
challenges us to think how to bring values into wider management of marine around the world to build out the information and models enabling us to
and coastal resources, including the use of ecosystem services as a driver better describe the incredible wealth of the oceans.
for ecosystem restoration. And it considers how we develop economic
valuation, not only as a metric of worth, but also as a means to inspire new Future work needs to communicate ecosystem services value to many
funding for the protection and enhancement of ecosystem services from audiences, including the many beneficiaries themselves all the way
coasts and oceans. through to the planners and policy makers. This starts with the knowledge
already compiled, but will also require greater efforts to explore other
Online Resources services, to build out other mechanisms for understanding values,
monetizing values, and bringing values to bear in wider settings. More
Beyond this static Atlas, an online version of the Atlas of Ocean Wealth examples are needed of the application of ecosystem services into
is available to enable deeper exploration of much of the data held in this planning processes, and into the possibilities for financing the protection
Atlas. The online Atlas includes customized web apps which enable users and enhancement of ecosystem services. As these develop, they can
to explore specific datasets around blue carbon, fisheries, natural coastal influence uptake in other places.
protection, recreation and tourism, and ecosystem restoration.
The Atlas is a thus waypoint, but more
It also links to social and economic data
remains to be done. The work here is critically
enabling users to look at aspects of human
important in showing what can be done,
population, infrastructure and management
and in illustrating the power of information,
alongside ecosystem services. These online
at different scales and in different settings,
datasets and apps are freely available to the
as a means to drive change and to secure a
open-source community, readily adopted by sustainable productive future for our oceans.
partners, and further customized to support
ocean planning, nature-based adaptation or
mitigation solutions.
The online Atlas and apps are also regularly
enhanced and updated. As this happens, so
the scope for using these as tools in planning
will become more apparent, enabling users to
The online Atlas of Ocean Wealth provides a robust data-viewing framework
overlay multiple services and to understand with a series of customized web apps designed to enable the visualization
trade-offs inherent in decision-making. Learn of coastal and marine ecosystem services. In some cases, it is possible to
more at http://oceanwealth.org/mapping. visualize multiple scenarios and develop tailored outputs.
Introduction xvii
Part One
A Host of Services
Part One 1
Making Fish
Looking across the world’s oceans it is clear that certain key habitats are super-productive—generating fish and shellfish at prodigious rates and
playing a critical role in seafood production. Understanding the processes underpinning this productivity, and developing the management tools
to strengthen and secure fish production, can simultaneously transform food security and enhance marine conservation.
T
ake a journey in a submarine across the coastal be linked to the physical structures, the oceanography, or
seabed almost anywhere in the world. Dropped in at
random, you will probably drift down to a featureless
PROTECTING the availability of nutrients, but human impacts also
play a role. Some habitats are degraded by pollution.
plain—mud, gravel or sand extending into the distance FISH HABITATS Many others have been so overfished they can no
in all directions. As you start your journey, your eyes are supports livelihoods, longer maintain a natural productivity. Accordingly,
drawn quickly to any feature, a strand of algae, a few rocks, economies and food security we first sought to understand, to model and, ultimately,
the occasional fish or sea urchin. Then, a dark shadow to predict and map the fish production within a habitat.
appears ahead. Out of the gloom, it suddenly comes into
full visibility—a reef, a bank of seagrass, or an oyster bed. Suddenly, you are How many fish are being caught?
startled out of your reverie by an explosion of life. Fish dart and hover, crabs
and lobsters nestle in the recesses, clams and oysters hold tight. This is a socio-economic question. It depends on people, money, and
markets. There are still a few places in the world where fishing pressure is
Fishers could have told us about such places, even centuries ago. For them, very low, typically places far away from people. Elsewhere, people may have
the same dark shadows on the seabed were the best places to lay lines or chosen not to fish and may have closed off fishing. In most areas, however,
traps. Traditional societies across the Pacific Ocean had long learned that there is at least some fishing and it is simply a question of how much.
certain prominent features on the reef front were spawning grounds for fish. From there, it is a matter of understanding both the available catch (the first
Many exploited them, but a smart few learned to temper that exploitation. question) and the effort, which is driven by need and opportunity.
By looking after such places, a rich supply of food could be secured,
year-after-year, from generation to generation. The answer to the second question gives us a measure of value. Further work
can help us translate that into metrics of money, of food security, or jobs.
Modern fisheries managers have begun to recognize this same importance of
key habitats—US fisheries policy calls for the management and protection of For this work, we have developed an array of approaches, varying with scale,
“essential fish habitat,” while many other countries are calling for “ecosystem- and adapted to the availability of information. Wherever possible, we begin
with real data, corralling the work of scientists from around the world who
based” fishery management. Unfortunately, there remains a vital knowledge gap.
have looked at fish production and catches. We then try to build up a bigger
We do not know where the most important places are, nor how they function.
story. We are looking for patterns, and to understand what may be driving
them. Once we start to understand what makes some places so rich in fish,
The Mapping Ocean Wealth Approach or so heavily exploited, then we are at the point where we can start to build
In order to understand the value of key habitats for fisheries, we needed to and test models. If we know that nutrients or temperature help to drive the
answer two broad questions: ecology, or if we know how far fishers travel and the location of the major
markets, then we can use such information to make predictions of fish biomass
How many fish are being generated in a place? or catch for places where no one has actually studied the fish or the catch.
This is an ecological question. We already knew that certain habitats produce With effective models we can also begin to develop scenarios and ask:
more fish than others. Our aim was to understand far, far more. Within any What will happen if fisheries are over-exploited? How much would catches
habitat there is huge variation in fish abundance from place to place. This might be enhanced by improved management?
2 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

Schooling bigeye jacks in the waters of
Cocos Island National Park in Costa Rica.
Making Fish 3
MAKING FISH
Mangroves
Over 200 million people live close to mangroves. While we can’t know
how many are fishers, we can be fairly sure that most of them will MANGROVES What the models show
regularly consume fish or shellfish that depend on mangroves. are fish factories for the • Mangroves generate the highest
Mangroves provide a unique space for fish and shellfish. 210,000,000 numbers of fish in large river mouths
where freshwater and high nutrients
Their complex structure is a natural shelter—a safe
space to come and breed, or to live and grow away PEOPLE enhance productivity
from predators in early life. The same structure shelters who live near them
and depend on • The greatest catches come from such
them from the impact of waves and storms (Chapter 2).
Mangroves are also one of the most productive environments them for food areas, but only where there are large
on Earth—abundant light, nutrients and oxygen enable prolific coastal populations and markets
growth not only of the trees, but also of algae and plankton. • Countries with the largest mangrove
This productivity powers prolific food chains.
catches include Nigeria, Indonesia,
Some animals, such as highly sought-after mud crabs, may spend all world and in most countries and Brazil and Mexico
their lives in the mangroves. Many others, from shrimp to snappers use territories that have mangroves.
mangroves in their early lives before migrating offshore. Mangroves are of highest value • The most heavily fished mangroves
precisely where humans and are found in many smaller countries
Our initial model of mangrove fisheries was built up from a detailed
markets are concentrated. in Central America, and in West and
review of hundreds of studies from around the world, and informed by an
Although not surprising, this is Central Africa. China and Viet Nam
expert panel. In terms of
often overlooked: the apparent
natural productivity, the also score very high
gains to be had from converting
most important areas are
mangroves to urban areas, • Australia, Papua New Guinea
those with high input of
freshwater and nutrients agriculture or aquaculture are and Venezuela are all countries
notably focused around rarely, if ever, weighed against with relatively small populations
estuaries, deltas and the huge costs of reduced food close to their more productive
lagoons, particularly in the security and livelihoods.
mangroves areas
wet tropics. Fishing effort The improved understanding
of course is uneven, but it that comes from this work offers
is centered in areas where new opportunities to protect and
high populations live close better manage mangroves worldwide. The sustainable provision of food for
to mangroves, or where vulnerable coastal populations is a benefit that cannot easily be replicated.
smaller fishing populations Economic values are only part of the story, of course, but existing studies
may nonetheless have show values ranging from hundreds to many thousands of dollars for a
access to urban markets. single hectare of mangrove each year. Such values are sufficient, in many
Our output map (opposite) areas, to counter demands for clearance or conversion of mangroves to
shows that high-value aquaculture or coastal development. In many places, the derived values
mangroves (in terms of fish are sufficiently large to justify considerable mangrove restoration efforts in
Fishing in mangroves is often small-scale, but worldwide it is a
vital source of food for millions. catch) are found around the areas where they have been lost.

Modeled Fish Catch from the World’s Mangrove Forests
The modeled fish catch from the world’s mangrove forests. High catches are widespread wherever there are
significant coastal populations, and enhanced near larger markets, but are also influenced by the productivity
of mangroves in different places.
RELATIVE FISHERY VALUE

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
LOWEST HIGHEST
LOWEST HIGHEST
Making Fish 5
MAKING FISH
Many mangrove fishers are artisanal—fishing small volumes to feed their

families and earn small amounts of cash at markets. They use traps, lines
and cast-nets to gather a mixed haul of fish, shrimps and crabs. Such
fisheries can generate 100 to 1,000 kilograms of fish per hectare every
year. Other fishers target key and high-value species, notably crabs,
cockles, oysters and shrimp. These generate lower volumes but high
values, particularly if they are close to important markets. Some fishing
grounds, from Fiji to Hong Kong, generate over US$2,000 per hectare
year on year, and one mixed crab and mollusc fishery in Brazil has been
estimated to generate almost US$10,000 per hectare per year.
Many of these fishers are fully aware of their reliance on mangroves,
however, they do not always have the political influence to halt the
destruction or conversion of mangroves to other uses, such as aquaculture,
which can generate high incomes in the short term, but at the cost of
multiple incomes, food security and jobs in the artisanal fishing sector.
Larger commercial fisheries operating in offshore waters often overlook
the mangroves on which they depend. Key among these is the offshore
shrimp industry. Vast quantities of shrimp are trawled from the seabed in
areas from Northern Australia and Malaysia to French Guyana. All depend
heavily on the supply of adult shrimp that began their lives as larvae
amongst the tangled roots of coastal mangroves.
Mangroves provide both food and shelter in abundance,

making them a vital habitat for fish and invertebrates.

Making Fish 7
MAKING FISH
Gulf of California
The Gulf of California is an area of outstanding marine diversity and Where fishing pressure is low, large high value fish
such as these grouper can be highly abundant over
productivity. Marine fisheries in the region account for 70 percent of
rocky reefs.
Mexico’s fisheries catches, an industry dominated by small-scale, artisanal
fishers. Unfortunately, all is not well—there are 1,500 coastal settlements
and populations are growing fast, leading to increasing fishing pressure.
There are now some 23,000 artisanal fishing boats, a 30 percent increase different fish and their habitats.
from 2006 to 2015. These catch 28,000 tons of fish, worth some US$19 In parallel, we have built habitat
million every year. maps. Mangroves were already
well-mapped, but for reefs and
While fishing takes place right across the Gulf, certain key habitats play
sargassum we had to use potential
an important role in enhancing fish production, including mangroves,
distribution modeling approaches.
but also offshore rocky reefs and areas of sargassum (large seaweed).
These show that mangroves What the models show
Mapping Ocean Wealth partners at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
occupy some 1,600 km2,
Comunidad y Biodiversidad A.C. and the Centre for Marine Biodiversity • There is relatively little overlap
sargassum 1,200 km2 and rocky
and Conservation in La Paz, Mexico are building a set of detailed maps
reefs some 10,000 km2. between mangroves and rocky reefs,
to explore the patterns of fish production and catches, and how these are
linked to different habitats. We developed a new method of while sargassum is often linked to
estimating the fishing pressure rocky reefs, particularly in the north
The approach has been to use recent fish catch data to understand how
throughout the Gulf that helps
much is being caught and where. In-water fish surveys are also being • Underwater, the areas of highest
to highlight areas of particular
used to model underwater biomass and to understand linkages between fish biomass are consistently in the
concern, such as areas with
important habitat coverage, southern half of the Gulf
high fishing pressure, but low • The highest economic values for fish
total catches.
(partly related to biomass, but also
This work is still in progress, but determined by species), are clustered
already we can see that fishing around the Midriff Islands in the north-
values are closely linked to key,
central Gulf, around the southeast
habitat-dependent species, and
that fisheries are in decline. Next peninsula, and around Puerto Vallarta
steps will enable the MOW team • Initial estimates suggest that the
to better understand what levels artisanal fishing fleet is unsustainable,
of fishing are sustainable, and to
reducing the net value of fish biomass
use scenario modeling to inform
possible management approaches. by two percent each year
Analyses of alternative livelihoods • At this rate, the economic worth
such as nature-based tourism of the Gulf’s fish biomass may well
(see p. 8) will also be valuable
be comparatively exhausted and
in broader-scale planning, and
In the Gulf of California, there have been tensions between the fishers who target shrimp in coastal waters, and the to ensure a future for the Gulf’s negligible within 40 years
growing aquaculture industry that is destroying mangroves to create shrimp aquaculture ponds. important fishing sector.

Important Habitats and Fisheries in the Gulf of California
Map 1 Map 2
Rocky Reefs (Ha) Sargassum (Ha)
25 - 55 0 Map 3
56 - 77 1-9 Mangrove
78 - 161 10 - 24 Presence
162 - 424 25 - 104
425 - 1912 105 - 935
Estimated dollar
value of fish
Map 4 Map 5 biomass (US$1000)
Potential Fishing Biomass
Effort (Tonnes / Ha) $25-500
$500-1,000
0-1 0.15-0.5 $1,000-2,500
2-4 0.5-0.75 $2,500-7,500
5 - 11 0.75-1 >$7,5000
12 - 24 1-2 (NB this is total per pixel,
25 - 77 >2 not per hectare)
Maps 1 and 2 – Abundance of Rocky Reefs (1) and Sargassum (2) estimated from predictive modeling methods. Map 3 – Mangroves based on actual distribution in 2010. Map 4 – Potential Fishing Effort (PFE), a prediction of fishing
pressure. Map 5 – Average fish biomass underwater (tons per hectare) between 1999 and 2010, estimated from long-term monitoring programs. Map 6 – Average dollar value of fish biomass estimated using average market price
per fish species.
Making Fish 9
MAKING FISH
Seagrass and Saltmarsh

Seagrasses Set against this data paucity, we located 11 studies from
the coastal waters of temperate Australia. All of these
Gently undulating green meadows of had looked at the differences in abundance of fish
grass-like plants carpet vast areas of over seagrass beds compared to unvegetated
calm shallow seabeds in both tropical adjacent waters. Focusing on just 12 commercially
and temperate regions. Just like important species, the results are astonishing.
grasslands on terra firma, these seagrass One hectare of
Each year, a single hectare of seagrass generates
beds capture the sun’s energy, generating
food and oxygen, and providing a critical
SEAGRASS some 30,000 additional fish to the community,
home for fish and other creatures. produces equivalent to 1 kilogram of fish for every square
meter. Using simple market values, such a
Lacking the drama of vertiginous reefs,
they are often overlooked and many
have been lost to pollution, torn up by
$24,000 more per year in commercially-
important fish than bare seafloor
seagrass bed just one hectare in size would
generate a commercial fishery enhancement
worth some US$24,000 annually.
trawlers scraping the seabed for flatfish
and shrimp, or scoured by anchors and the
propellers of pleasure boaters. Saltmarsh
We still have much to learn about seagrasses. Indeed, the best global map Large areas of the world’s temperate shores are fringed by marshes.
of seagrasses is simply a patchwork of local studies, full of gaps where no Too cold for mangroves, these are dominated by shrubs, herbs or grasses,
one has really looked. Scientists still disagree on matters such as scale. growing over deep mud, cut through by myriad winding channels.
There may be as little as 170,000 km2 of seagrass in the world, or as much Although exposed to the air for much of the day, they are occasionally
as 600,000 km2. To understand global values, we need first to focus and covered by tides. Countless fish and shellfish benefit from their shelter and
understand exactly what seagrasses may be delivering locally. their rich productivity.
The MOW team is beginning to study the relevance of saltmarshes to
fish production, but thus far the best knowledge comes from the work of
others. One example comes from a team working in Galveston Bay looking
at the abundance of three crustacean species. The brown shrimp and the
white shrimp are among the most important commercial shrimp species
in the USA. They are harvested from vast trawling grounds around the
Gulf of Mexico and off of the east coast of the USA, with a total harvest
of over 100,000 metric tons each year. A third species is the blue crab,
whose commercial harvest around the shores of the Atlantic coasts of the
Americas is of tremendous importance, but which also supports a large
recreational fishery. Adults of all three species tend to spawn in waters
near the coast, and young larvae float in the plankton before settling on
the seabed right up in the coast and in estuaries.
Studies have shown that these three crustaceans all benefit immensely
A juvenile snapper hides among the fronds from the presence of saltmarsh—each hectare of marsh in Galveston
of a shallow seagrass bed in the Bahamas. Bay is estimated to be generating an extra 235 kilograms of shrimp and
170 kilograms of blue crab compared to the shallow waters nearby.

A blue crab in the hands of a commercial
crabber in Virginia, USA.
Making Fish 11
MAKING FISH
Oyster Habitats
Oysters have the capacity to form large banks and reefs which play a critical role as a they thrive and there are many
habitat. Scientists from The Nature Conservancy have shown that such habitats were many more of them. Often, the What the models show
throngs of fish around oyster reefs
once widespread worldwide, but that at least 85 percent have been lost, making them are larvae, or sub-adults. Many • The most significant contribution that
one of the most threatened habitats on earth. species find refuge here in their oyster reefs play is enhancing the
early life. Thus even fish caught far reproductive success and early survival
Early European settlers found the Chesapeake Bay, on the eastern coast
from oysters may still depend on of many fish, what we call “recruitment
of the USA, to be a critical safe haven after crossing the Atlantic, but their
the complex sheltering structure enhancement”
early descriptions are of a remarkably different place from the Bay today.
of the oysters. With our models
America’s largest estuarine embayment was then crystal clear and heaving • Among the most commercially
we sought to quantify this life-long
with fish—striped bass and sheepshead, shad and sturgeon. As the early
enhancement benefit from oyster important species are gag grouper and
navigators also reported, however, it was a navigational challenge, with huge
reefs. Uniquely, we also sought to sheepshead on the East Coast, and
banks of oysters rising meters above the seabed and capable of grounding a
build a model that would capture
boat and gouging its hull. In between, vast swathes of seagrass smothered stone crab, blue crab and sheepshead
the variability in this enhancement,
the seabed, wafting with the currents and shifting tides. in the Gulf of Mexico
and enable us to build the same
The Chesapeake now runs muddy with only a few shadows hinting at the uncertainty into our estimates. • Commercially and recreationally
presence of the last oyster reefs. The fisheries are managed better than they important species such as black drum,
We found that nineteen species
have been for several decades, but we are managing a degraded system.
were enhanced by oyster reefs in red drum and striped bass also benefit
Some of those last meager reefs the Gulf of Mexico, while twelve from oyster reefs as adults
around the US have a critical species were enhanced on the
message for us. Fishers still linger Eastern Seaboard. One hectare • Just one hectare of oyster reef in the
around their margins, and a few of oyster reef in an estuary in Gulf of Mexico would add 3,200 adult
scientists have joined them. The the Gulf of Mexico will generate blue crabs to the population every year
fishers catch, and the scientists millions of extra larvae to the
ecosystem. Only a fraction will • Across the 31 major bays and estuaries
count. Both have noted how many
more fish there are around the reach adulthood, but a fraction of of our studies, the remaining oyster
reefs than in the areas where the a very large number is still a large reefs are generating an additional
reefs are all gone. Piecing together number. From the perspective 185,000 metric tons of fish annually
this work we have been able to tell of fishers it looks like this: one
a remarkable story. hectare of healthy oyster reef in
in a place like Matagorda Bay will
Our work compared the numbers
generate an extra 3,200 crabs of fishable age. All this from just one patch
of fish and crustaceans in or
of oysters 100 meters square.
directly adjacent to oyster reefs
to those away from reefs. This Scaling up to the bays and estuaries on the Gulf of Mexico and the Eastern
approach enables us to quantify Seaboard of the US, we have a good picture of the total oyster reef extent
A crabbing boat heads out into the waters of Virginia the “enhancement” role that the in 31 of the major bays, and from these alone we find that oyster reefs are
USA. Crab stocks are greatly enhanced by oyster reefs play. The same species still generating in the order of 185,000 (plus or minus 45,000) metric tons of
reefs which provide shelter and food, especially for survive without the oysters, but fish to the ecosystem, year on year. These are additional to populations that
younger crabs. where there are healthy reefs would occur in the absence of such reefs.

Fish Stock Enhancement by Oyster Reefs
Though covering only a fraction of their historic extent, oyster reefs continue to enhance
fish stocks. This map shows the additional biomass predicted as a result of oyster reef
enhancement for the bays and estuaries of the US where we have information on the
current coverage of these habitats.
A yellowfin bream loiters among rocky reefs and

oysters in Cowan Creek, near Sydney, Australia
Current biomass production

“due to” oyster reef (tonnes)
No data on oyster reef extent
No detectable enhancement
1 - 500
501 - 2,000
2,001- 10,000
10,001 - 50,000
A blue crab exposed on an Blue crabs are just one of many of the species that are
oyster reef at low tide. enhanced by a productive oyster reef.
Making Fish 13
MAKING FISH
Moving Offshore
While some of the most important small-scale fisheries, as well as recreational
fisheries, take place close to shore, many commercial fisheries take place further from
shore, including benthic fishing (fishing for species closely linked to seabed habitats,
such as cod) and pelagic fishing (fishing for species that are free ranging in the open
waters, such as tuna).
Essential Fish Habitat in the Gulf of Maine, USA

For many years now, fisheries managers in the US have sought to protect
what they have called Essential Fish Habitat (EFH). The term is clear
enough—they have recognized that some habitats are more important
than others for particular fish, or at certain critical life-history stages such
as breeding or larval growth. The challenge has been to know exactly
which habitats were essential, and to know where they are on a map.
Far out from the coast of New England, well beyond the sight and safety of
the shore, a small mountain rises
up from the sea bed. Nowhere
What the models show does it break the surface, but
fishermen have long recognized
• One-year-old cunner (an important
that it is important habitat for
fishery species) show a tight affinity groundfish. “Cashes Ledge” as it
for kelp and boulder habitat is known, is one of the northern
• There are 0.8 km of kelp habitat
2 Atlantic’s fish hotspots. Cod are
on Cashes Ledge (0.9 percent of found here, as are cunner, cusk,
haddock and pollock. Clearly, this
mapped area)
is a pretty important place for fish,
• There are 9.8 km2 of boulder habitat but the Mapping Ocean Wealth
on Cashes Ledge (10.5 percent of partners from Northeastern Gulf of Maine trawl fisher, mending nets at sea. Fishing in the region is a vital part of the economy.
mapped area) University have been taking such
knowledge to the next level.
• These and other findings will be
The surface of Cashes Ledge is Combining this information with studies investigating EFH for important
critical in supporting management
a mixed terrain of mud, sand, commercial species such as cunner, cod, haddock and cusk reveals which
interventions to secure the long- bare rock, cobble, boulders and parts of Cashes Ledge are most important for these particular species.
term productivity of key commercial a small dense forest of kelp. As expected, there are tight linkages between certain species such
fish species New high-resolution maps chart as cunner, and certain habitats such as kelp forest and boulder-rich
the exact locations of these environments. Furthermore, these fish use the habitat differently as
different habitats. they move through their lifecycle from larvae to juveniles to adults.

Essential Fish Habitat on Cashes Ledge, Gulf of Maine
Far left: High-resolution surveys

produce a detailed map of the
different habitats making up the
shallow waters of Cashes Ledge.
Left: Mapping Ocean Wealth work

has identified elements of this
habitat of critical importance for
key species at different stages of
their lives, as shown here for one-
year-old cunner (right).
Cashes EFH Maps Description Cashes EFH Maps Descriptions

Kelp Kelp
Rock Boulder
Boulder Gravel/shell, Sand/mud, Rock
Gravel/shell
Sand/mud
Making Fish 15
MAKING FISH
Moving Offshore
Up until now, Cashes Ledge was just a place with a lot of fish, but the
Mapping Ocean Wealth work has enabled us to discern which parts of
that place are the critical fish habitats, and, more importantly, why.
Our next efforts will be to use the knowledge gained here to build a
model for essential fish habitat for cod over the entire Gulf of Maine.
The end-game is simple: by determining the areas that enhance
productivity, we can focus conservation efforts around producing more
fish—enhancing values to people while increasing ecological stability.
Pelagic Fish Production in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia

While much of the Mapping Ocean Wealth work has focused on
structured habitats found near coasts, the importance of the waters of the
open ocean in fisheries is also critical. These “pelagic” habitats are a place
of continuous change as water
moves freely from place to place.
They lack clear boundaries, but
they are far from uniform. Strong
patterns in productivity indicate
the importance of particular
places and phenomenon in
much the same way as more
structured habitat. We began
exploring such patterns in the
Lesser Sunda Ecoregion. This
region encompasses the southern
margin of the Indonesian
Through-Flow—the only deep-
water connection between the Pelagic tuna, remain important as a source of food for local coastal communities, but they also support a very
high value global trade.
Pacific and Indian Oceans. In this
region, patterns of water flow
reverse seasonally, but more and Marine Resources Studies (CCMRS) and with Bogor Agricultural
importantly the water movements University (IPB), developed a model of pelagic productivity using data
also drive a powerful upwelling, on temperature and sea-surface productivity. This model clearly shows
particularly in the Southeast the tremendously important role of monsoon upwelling in driving
Monsoon (April to November). pelagic productivity in the Southeast Monsoon. Such knowledge will
Juvenile skipjack tuna. While these are still relatively
abundant in many areas, the capture of juvenile fish The Mapping Ocean Wealth be of considerable value in developing management tools for the highly
before they have had a chance to breed is leading to Team in Indonesia, working with important tuna fisheries, which take place both in these waters and in
declines in many areas
partners in the Center for Coastal adjacent international waters of the eastern Indian Ocean.

Modeled Fish Biomass in the Lesser Sunda Islands
JANUARY
JULY
MODELED FISH BIOMASS

Using data describing sea-surface productivity and temperature, together with information about pelagic fish species, we can model the fish biomass
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
for different seasons and highlight the enormous importance of certain areas and at different times for pelagic fish production.
LOWEST HIGHEST
LOWEST HIGHEST
Making Fish 17
MAKING FISH
Coral Reefs
Coral reefs are almost synonymous with an abundance of life. For millenia they have A Global Map
supported coastal populations with a rich supply of food. Today, the hundreds of The global map of fish catch
millions of people from the world’s coral-reef nations eat 50 percent more fish than considers four elements: reef
the global average. productivity, local fishing intensity,
international fishing for key
Dependence on coral reef fishes reaches its apogee in many developing target species, and management
island nations, where people eat an average of 60-120 kilograms of influences. The expected
fish every year. In the Maldives, average fish consumption reaches an background productivity of reefs
astonishing 180 kilograms per year per person, or 77 percent of all animal Fishers in Papua New Guinea.
made a simple allowance for
protein eaten in the country. Island populations often have few other protein lower productivity on Caribbean
sources as agricultural land is often unproductive and scarce. reefs, as well as the reduction What the models show
The abundance of fish on coral reefs is surprising because many of the in productivity observed when
reefs are degraded by human • Almost all of the world’s coral
world’s coral reefs are found in nutrient-poor waters. Their rich bounty
is an apparent anomaly. In fact, this productivity is also fragile. Reefs impacts. We then predicted local reefs are subjected to some fishing
are susceptable to many pressures, including pollution, sedimentation, fishing pressure, assuming a pressure, but the highest catches
climate change and overfishing. If too many fish are taken from a reef, direct correlation with the size of occur closest to large human
the productivity of the entire system is compromised. By the time most local human populations further populations
larger fish have been removed from a reef, the complex ecosystem is more influenced by possible access to
vulnerable to impacts from larger markets. • Some areas of lower catch exist
diseases, tropical storms, algal where the reefs are remote from
We also recognized that not
overgrowth and other pressures. people, where they are well
all reef fishing is local. There is
By contrast, when fishing is managed, or both. These include
also a worldwide harvest of very
limited, or well-managed, coral the northwest Hawaiian Islands, the
high value species: sharks, large
reefs have the capacity to continue
groupers and snapper in particular Great Barrier Reef and the British
feeding coastal populations,
are now of sufficient value in Indian Ocean Territory
generation after generation.
markets, notably in East Asia, that
To get a first idea of the global they support a truly global fishery. • Lower catches are also found in
variation in the value of fisheries Rarely sustainable, and often areas such as wide parts of the
catch from coral reefs, we built illegal, such fishing for key target Caribbean, where reefs have been
a simple model for the world species affects almost every coral degraded by human impacts and
(opposite). This work was reef in the world, with remoteness even at full fishing pressure they
followed by a more detailed and offering little protection. The cannot deliver high catches
novel approach to building a final minor modification to our
high-resolution model, initially for model was to take into account
Micronesia (overleaf), but with reef management. We factored in the role of no-take fishing reserves. We
Parrotfish are among the major grazing fish on coral
work commencing to follow a assumed that these would have increased fish populations inside that could
reefs. They are also very popular food fish, targeted by similar approach for other regions. not be fished, but also that such reserves would enhance fishing opportunities
local fishers in all coral reef countries. in a halo around their perimeter.

Modeled Fish Catch from the World’s Coral Reefs
Top: The model includes ecological components of available catch, driven by natural productivity and human impact, combined
with likely fishing pressure driven largely by population and markets. This model does not identify areas where high catch may
be unsustainable.
Inset: Western Indian Ocean –high-but-variable catches can be seen along the continental coasts, while low catches are
recorded from areas such as the uninhabited reefs and islands of the southwestern Seychelles. Even such remote reefs, however,
are still the target of focused catches for high-value species.
MODELED FISH CATCH

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Local speargun fisherman in the Federated States of Micronesia.
LOWEST HIGHEST
LOWEST HIGHEST
Making Fish 19
MAKING FISH
Coral Reefs: Micronesia

In building a detailed model for coral reef fisheries, we had an opportunity
to develop an unique approach. Coral reefs are among the best studied of
all marine ecosystems. While many other fisheries are quantified by The Problem of Overfishing
assessment of fish catches, because in situ surveys are very
Fishing gives us all our last glimpse of our
difficult, coral reef fishes have been counted and measured Healthy and ancient past—wild creatures being caught
on reefs by scores of marine biologists around the world.
Such studies do not disturb the ecosystem, and they
well-managed for food, but now on an eye-watering scale.
allow scientists to study reefs across the spectrum
from highly degraded to near-pristine.
CORAL REEFS Eighty million metric tons of fish and shellfish
are caught in the sea each year by some 18
generate million marine fishers. Lines, nets, trawls and
Initial work, led by the University of Queensland,
traps from over three million boats delve
of fish per square
compiled fish survey data from over 1,100 locations
across the extensive reefs and island chains of five
jurisdictions in Micronesia (in the Federated States
5 to 10 TONS kilometer per year
into almost every corner of the globe. Tens
of millions of additional jobs are generated
of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau, Guam and through the processing, trading, cooking and
the Northern Mariana Islands) in the Pacific Ocean. serving of fish products, and the trade delivers
Almost any level of fishing leaves a clear signal: unfished reefs have a rich standing stock varies considerably an average of over 10 kilograms of marine
abundance of larger fishes, such as parrotfishes, groupers, snappers and among reefs. We can also see how fish and shellfish per year for everyone on
sharks. Such species remain where there is still some fishing, but the larger areas differ in terms of their ability the planet. Nutritionally, these are beyond
individuals are lost. As fishing pressure increases, the average fish size to cope with fishing pressure. For compare—providing not only protein, but
declines, and gradually some species are lost completely and disappear example, Guam has some of the essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals and
from the community. highest fishing pressure, but also unique fatty acids that have immense benefits
appears to naturally support fewer
Using these ecological data alongside a host of other information on for human health and development.
fishes, making it highly vulnerable
natural, social or economic variables, we built two models. One modeled
to overfishing. By contrast, some Humans need seafood, and yet fish catches
cumulative fishing pressure using the average size of parrotfishes from the
reefs around Palau also have high have been flat-lining since the mid 1990s,
survey data. We assumed that more fishing would reduce average size.
fishing pressure, but they still have despite ever-increasing efforts, ever-more-
Parrotfish average size was closely linked both to human population density
high standing stock because they sophisticated fishing gears, and increasing
and to the distance to the nearest port. The second model examined the
naturally have more fish and can distances covered by fishing boats. In many
biomass of fish (or standing stock) currently present on the forereef slopes
withstand more fishing pressure. areas, fisheries collapses are leading to
of Micronesia. This is strongly influenced of course by fishing pressure, but
many other factors played a part including sea surface temperature, oceanic By comparing the differences worsening diets, job losses and decreased
productivity, upstream larval supply, depth and coral cover. between current and potential food security. The Food and Agriculture
standing stock, we can also show Organization has reported for years on the
From these models we generated, for the first time, continuous high
the likely benefits of improved world’s main fisheries, but new studies on the
resolution maps of fishing pressure and predicted standing stock for
management. For example, less-well-studied fisheries, including many
Micronesia. Now that we have built the models, we can do so much more.
some of the first species to be small-scale coastal fisheries, indicate that they
For example, we can use the models to generate hypothetical scenarios to taken from reefs are the top
may be even more impacted.
show what the reefs would look like if there was no fishing at all (potential predators such as larger groupers,
standing stock). This map shows how, even in the absence of humans, snappers and jacks. Our model is

Ioanis Mihkel, in Pohnpei, Federated
States of Micronesia, catching a parrotfish.
These fish are both for subsistence, and to
sell at the local village markets.
Making Fish 21
MAKING FISH
sufficiently robust for us to model their recovery, and in the more heavily
fished areas around Guam and Pohnpei, we predict increases of 100-350
percent in standing stock of these species in the absence of fishing.
The strength and utility of these maps is considerable and field
practitioners are already asking
for specific outputs to support
What the models show planning for improved fisheries
management and Protected Area
• 58 percent of reefs areas were
Network design in Micronesia.
predicted to have low fishing These same maps could also
pressure, 27 percent were predicted make a critical contribution
to have medium fishing pressure, and to government commitments
only 15 percent were predicted to to undertake the Micronesia
have high fishing pressure Challenge—a commitment by all
five jurisdictions to effectively
• In contrast with many parts of conserve 30 percent of their
the world, the majority of reefs in marine resources by 2020.
Micronesia appear to be relatively Following the success of this
healthy with biomass being more approach in Micronesia, we have
than 50 percent of potential biomass now been asked to modify and
refine our models to develop coral
• Approximately half of the reefs in the
reef fisheries maps to support
region are predicted to increase their conservation and management in
fish standing stock by more than 30 other regions.
percent if fishing stopped
• Recovery of fish populations on more
heavily fished reefs could take 10 to
50 years, highlighting the immediate
need to establish no-take reserves or
other fisheries management tools
• Guam has some of the highest fishing
pressure, but is further affected by
a naturally low carrying capacity,
making it highly vulnerable to
overfishing
Local fisherman, Kirino Olpet spearfishing in the waters
of Ant Atoll, Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia.

Coral Reef Fisheries in Micronesia
Predicted % gain -
piscivores
Fishing Pressure LOWEST
(0-1) 0%
LOWEST 0% - 10%
0.0 - 0.1 10% - 20%
0.1 - 0.2 20% - 30%
0.2 - 0.3 30% - 40%
0.3 - 0.4 40% - 50%
0.4 - 0.5 50% - 60%
0.5 - 0.6 60% - 70%
0.6 - 0.7 70% - 80%
0.7 - 0.8 80% - 90%
0.8 - 0.9 90% - 100%
0.9 - 1.0 100% - 214%
HIGHEST HIGHEST
Fishing pressure: The model used ecological observations of parrotfish (a Current biomass (standing stock) of 19 focal fisheries species, which are
sensitive indicator of fishing), and shows a tight linkage of fishing pressure to representative for all species.
human population density and proximity to ports.
Predicted Potential
Predicted Standing
Standing Stock (g m-2)
Stock (g m-2)
LOWEST
LOWEST
<10
2–4
10 – 11 4–6
11 – 12 6–8
12 – 15 8 – 10
15 – 18 10 - 12
18 – 23 12 – 14
23 – 28 14 – 18
28 – 35 18 – 26
35 – 50 26 – 42
50 - 138 42 - 132
HIGHEST HIGHEST
Potential biomass in the absence of fishing. Note that some areas, even without Potential gain of six key predator species in the absence of fishing.
human impacts, would have naturally lower biomass than others.
Making Fish 23
Breaking Waves
Coastal ecosystems play a dramatic role in mitigating risk and in reducing the costs of coastal defense. They reduce waves and storm surges
through wave-breaking and friction and can provide a dynamic barrier that can grow over time to keep up with rising sea levels.
C
hange is natural on coastlines. Vast, sediment-rich rivers build
deltas out into the ocean, growing the land laterally by tens or
even hundreds of meters every year. Elsewhere, the push and
pull of every day waves or the pounding of storms drives erosion and
deposition, eating away at precious land, or occasionally
building new land, even entire islands.
Problems pile up because the coastal zone is the
most populous part of the planet and growing and
NATURAL DEFENSES
developing faster than anywhere else. Erosion, inundation save money and reduce
and extreme weather events affect coasts everywhere,
impacting hundreds of millions of vulnerable people, impacts of storms, erosion and
and damaging infrastructure, tourism and trade. Insurers
alone have paid out more than US$300 billion for coastal
flooding to coastal communities
damages from storms in the past 10 years. Uninsured losses
are estimated to be two- to three-times higher.
Changing climate and rising sea levels are exacerbating the problems. countries examined, reef and
The patterns and intensity of storms are changing, too. Melting permafrost mangrove restoration were
in Arctic regions is leading to a dramatic crumbling of many coastlines. among the most cost-effective
Ever-higher coastal tides are inundating and salinizing lowlands and sea level approaches to coastal risk
rise is threatening the very existence of some small island nations. reduction and adaptation.
To counter these problems, governments all over the world are dedicating Countries are beginning to
billions of dollars to reduce risks from disasters and climate change. demand the consideration
Middle-income countries, such as Brazil, China and Colombia are making of natural and nature-
multibillion-dollar investments to address the risks of flooding and other based defenses in analyses
disasters exacerbated by climate change. At the international level, parties of alternatives by coastal
to the UN Climate Convention have agreed to aim for funds of US$100 engineering. Meanwhile, key
billion to be available per year by 2020 to address the needs of developing parts of the engineering sector
countries in climate mitigation and adaptation. are beginning to build nature into
their models and approaches.
Coastal defense is a critical concern. Unfortunately, most defense
investments are targeted towards the creation and maintenance of
“grey infrastructure,” such as seawalls and breakwaters, while the role
Natural defenses – coral reefs, mangroves, oysters and
that ecosystems can play in coastal defense is often overlooked. saltmarshes can perform many of the coastal protection
Things are beginning to change, however. The Caribbean Catastrophic functions of man-made structures that are costly to
Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) found that, in seven out of the eight build and maintain.

Diver under a breaking wave at the reef crest of Palmyra
Atoll in the equatorial Northern Pacific.
Breaking Waves 25
B R E A K I N G WAV E S
The Science of Coastal Protection

Three Key Processes coastline, caused by both the
low atmospheric pressure and
Coastal ecosystems play a remarkable role in shaping the physical structure the process of onshore winds
of our coastlines and, in so doing, provide critical services to people in
piling up water on shallow
reducing the physical impacts of erosion, storm-damage and flooding.
coastal shelves. Wind waves are
These ecosystems support three key processes: wave attenuation, storm
super-imposed on this elevated
surge reduction and shoreline elevation.
sea level and the end result can
be devastating floods.
Wave Attenuation
During storms, ecosystems
Wind and swell waves scour the seabed and can drive erosion and the
continue to reduce incoming
shifting of sediments. Larger waves can overtop beaches, dunes and
artificial barriers such as seawalls, causing flooding. Physical features of overlying wind and swell waves,
the seabed can quickly change the nature of waves and natural habitats but where they are sufficiently
are critical in this regard. extensive they also provide
resistance to the landward flow
The complex tangle of shoots, roots, shells or skeletons cause friction, of the storm surge itself.
rapidly diminishing waves’ energy, while the hard concretions of reefs Large mangrove forests,
or mangrove roots, and the tight binding of saltmarsh and seagrass extensive reef flats and wide salt
ecosystems help to prevent the scour of waves on the seabed. marshes can effectively slow
the flow of water toward the
Storm Surge Attenuation land. This way, even a partial
Major storms and typhoons typically create a storm surge, a rise reduction in surge heights can
in the water level along tens or hundreds of kilometers of prevent large areas of flooding.
Maintaining Shoreline Elevation

On average, sea levels are now
Around coral atolls, such as here in the British Indian
rising by over three millimeters Ocean Territory, the living walls of coral reefs transform
per year with considerable local the power of oceanic swells into tranquil waters over just
variation. Such rates are set a few metres.
to continue or increase over
coming decades. While no human engineering can alter this fact, many
coastal ecosystems have a capacity to “grow” vertically, raising the elevation
of the seabed or land on which they are growing. Coral reefs, oyster reefs,
saltmarshes and mangroves have all been shown to be able to keep up with
rising sea levels. Such processes are not guaranteed, however, as they can
be countered by other natural processes of erosion or natural subsidence,
Natural coastal defense. The upper image illustrates how the complex structures of coral reefs, mangroves and other
structural ecosystems can all play an important role in reducing wave heights and protecting coastal communities.
but in at least some places they can may a remarkable difference.
When degraded or lost (lower image) this capacity to reduce waves is greatly diminished and the threat of flooding Reefs, mangroves, marshes and seagrass meadows can become dynamic
and erosion increases. self-maintaining barriers and coastal defenses.

Hazards and Risk
COASTS AT RISK INDEX CYCLONE FREQUENCY

The Coasts@Risk index identifies countries most at-risk to coastal
Very Low Low Medium High Very High
hazards based on their exposure to storms and sea level rise and on the
LOWEST HIGHEST social vulnerability of their communities, which includes susceptibility,
coping capacity and adaptive capacity. Superimposed on these country
scores is an image of the hazard presented by storms.
Quantifying Value—Expected Damage Function

The coastal protection benefits from various coastal habitats are predicted to be substantial, but prior to our work, these
benefits had only been quantified rigorously in a few places. Without sufficient knowledge or reliable models, such benefits are
not being properly used to inform decisions in development, risk reduction and conservation (World Bank 2016). This is risky
business—potential benefits are not being included, and potential assets are being damaged, potentially at vast cost to society.
New guidelines developed for the World Bank offer a rigorous approach for quantifying the annual expected benefits of natural
protection services and developing values that can be incorporated into national accounts and other economic considerations.
At the center of this approach is the calculation of the Expected Damage Function (EDF). This approach is adapted from the tools
commonly used in risk analyses by engineers and insurance risk modelers. It requires the modeling and mapping of flooding levels at
present and then assessing flooding levels if habitat barriers were lost. The value of the social and built capital between these lines
is the expected benefit from keeping these habitats in place.
Breaking Waves 27
Mangroves
A mere 100 meters of mangroves can reduce wave height by two- surge peak water
thirds, while very wide mangrove forests can significantly reduce levels between 4 and Seagrass
48 centimeters per
flooding from storm surges. Submerged seagrass ecosystems
kilometer of mangrove.
Along vast stretches of the world’s warm coastlines, mangrove In low-lying areas, have received far less attention
forests form extensive, even continuous belts. They grow even such than the intertidal mangroves and
particularly vigorously in river-mouths and deltas, places relatively small saltmarshes, and indeed we know
that are often of critical importance to human dwelling reductions in
and commerce. These strange forests, growing between
the tides, can appear impenetrable with a combination
MANGROVES peak water
levels can
far less about these ecosystems
generally. The few reviews that exist
of aerial roots and low branches. It is precisely this REDUCE 66% reduce on the role of seagrass in reducing
combination of wave height – flooding waves all point to them having some
that forms the easing erosion and and prevent effect on waves, although generally
mangroves’
critical barrier
flood risk property this is thought to be much less
damage.
to waves than the other coastal wetlands.
and flooding. During these They are most effective where they
extreme events
The Mapping Ocean are in shallow water and form dense,
mangroves play multiple
Wealth team, working with long-lived beds over wide areas that
the University of Cambridge, the roles—they may reduce the
height of the storm surge, they are not subject to seasonal variation.
United Nations University, the
University of California, Santa reduce the wind-waves that top
Alone, they have only a limited value,
Cruz and the World Bank, has the storm surge, they reduce
wind-speed across the water but seagrass is rarely found alone,
undertaken detailed reviews of
all the existing research into surface, which can prevent waves and it is perhaps more in the addition
the role of mangroves in coastal re-forming, and they can even of roles that they are most important,
protection. We have described provide some mechanisms for beginning a process of wave-energy
how a 100-meter-wide belt of trapping debris that is a major reduction that is then completed by
mangroves can reduce wave cause of death and injury during
heights between 13 and mangroves, saltmarshes or reefs.
storms. Studies following an
66 percent, and up to 100 extreme cyclone in Orissa, India
percent where mangroves reach showed that villages that had
500 meters or more in width. If maintained mangroves as a
mangrove forests are sufficiently barrier to the sea had a lower death toll from the storm.
large, they can reduce storm
Other MOW-linked studies looking at the costs of natural versus
The dense aerial roots and low branches of mangroves
engineered sea defenses have shown that restoring mangroves can
form a complex frictional barrier, slowing water flow be two- to five-times cheaper than building a concrete breakwater,
and rapidly reducing the energy of incoming waves. yet provides the same degree of protection.

Ann Harvey, a teacher on Union Island in Grenada and St. Vincent, has been a vocal local witness to the role of mangroves
– she tells how her school was protected from Hurrican Ivan in 2004 by the existence of mangroves.
Living with Risk

It is impossible to remove risk entirely from coastal zones. Even in an ideal
world, engineers and planners develop structures to avoid a certain level
of risk, a once-in-a-hundred-year storm for example, while a residual risk
remains. Ecosystems too have their limits and quantifying these is a critical
element of building their acceptability in the coastal planning progress.
A further key element is not to rely on a single approach of risk avoidance.
With storms and tsunamis, early warning and evacuation plans are critical
to avoiding loss of life. Over the longer term, recognition of high risk zones
and the development of building codes to prevent development in such
areas is of great importance in avoiding loss of infrastructure. Ecosystems Wave energy can be quickly dissipated around the roots and shoots of mangrove vegetation.
need to be incorporated into this wider risk-reduction framework.
Breaking Waves 29
Temperate Shores
Oyster Reefs
Dense packed beds and reefs of oysters form a natural
breakwater, dramatically cutting wave height. They can
also occur naturally in intertidal areas where they provide
a form of shoreline armor, preventing erosion and
OYSTER REEFS
save communities
protecting marshes.
Prior to centuries of overharvesting, oysters were
superabundant in bays and estuaries around the world,
$85,000
in places forming large banks rising high above the per year per hectare when
seabed. Losses have been so great that it is difficult to used in place of
find areas of native original reefs to study, however the artificial breakwaters
value of such
reefs is such that
extensive efforts have
been undertaken to restore oyster Saltmarshes
reefs (see section 2), mostly in Away from the tropics,
the USA. saltmarshes cover vast
TNC experts working with the extents of low-lying coasts,
Natural Capital Project have often in close juxtaposition
developed a model of wave with human communities, Constructed or restored oyster reefs, like these in Alabama, USA,
can reduce erosion and allow adjacent marshes to flourish.
attenuation by oyster reefs. urban areas and valuable
We have also used these models farmland. Many have been
to look at the value of newly lost, often replaced by high-
restored coastal oyster reefs in value property and infrastructure in what are the lowest lying and riskiest
reducing coastal erosion in the areas, places regularly subject to erosion and inundation.
Gulf of Mexico. Such reefs can
While saltmarshes lack the high physical structures of mangroves, in
prevent the need for more intrusive
engineering solutions, such as the face of smaller waves and surges their dense vegetation structure
bulkheads and revetments, saving actually makes them more effective in wave attenuation than mangroves.
over US$750 for every meter of The tight-packed vegetation creates strong frictional resistance to waves,
reef constructed. Through this while the aboveground plants and their dense root systems stabilize
collaboration, we have also built sediment and reduce erosion.
interactive apps for planners Several studies show attenuation of as much as 50 percent of smaller waves
to consider how and where even by a barrier of just 10 meters—rates of attenuation that are typically
oyster reef restoration can best more than double that of unvegetated mudflats. There is considerable
protect shorelines. variation in how effective they are, influenced by the density and structure
Oysters provide a complex three-dimensional structure of the vegetation, but all studies point to the importance of such marshes,
which provides strong frictional resistance to waves. particularly in the first few meters of shore where attenuation is greatest.

Coastal Risks in the Northern Gulf of Mexico and the Potential of
Oyster-based Mitigation
AREAS OF HIGHEST RISK TO

Areas at highest risk to coastal hazards across the Gulf of Mexico COASTAL HAZARDS
considering exposure to storms and sea level rise and the social 1 2 3 4 5
vulnerability of communities (e.g., % below poverty). The inset
LOWEST HIGHEST
shows locations identified by TNC’s Risk Explorer where oyster reef
restoration may have the greatest risk reduction. Priority oyster restoration areas
Northern Gulf of Mexico off the coast

of Coffee Island in Portersville Bay, AL
Breaking Waves 31
Coral Reefs
Coral reefs are living breakwaters providing protection from waves and into the model based
storms to over 150,000 kilometers of tropical coastline in over on their distance
from the shore.
100 countries.
Coral reefs protect coasts from erosion and flooding
CORAL REEFS Those within one
kilometer of shore
by reducing wave energy and supplying and trapping
provide the were assumed to
sediment found on adjacent beaches. Coral reefs reduce first line of defense for give 100 percent
protection.
wave energy by up to 97 percent. Healthy reefs can
protect coasts even during cyclones with strong wave
conditions. They can also keep pace with sea level rise,
63,000,000 We assumed
partial protection
and, unlike man-made coastal defenses they require
little or no direct maintenance costs.
PEOPLE GLOBALLY for
three
reefs up to
kilometers
from shore and,
In a rapid assessment to show the relative value of reefs lastly, low levels
as sea defenses worldwide, we first mapped the areas of protection in areas
threatened either by erosion or inundation. These were the areas protected by extensive
very close to shore, extending up to five kilometers inland only in very barrier reefs far offshore.
low-elevation areas. We then sought to model exposure to this hazard.
We scored coastlines based on their population density and the amount The resulting map clearly shows Waves breaking on the reefs in
of infrastructure in this coastal strip. Storm risk further influenced this that many coral reefs, being far front of Waikiki, Hawaii.
exposure: with areas in the major storm belts around the tropics treated from people, are of zero value
as more exposed than those outside the storm belts. We built coral reefs in coastal defense. By contrast,
the highest values are, of course, What the model shows:
closest to areas of high human • 63 million people live in coastal
population densities. These do
and low-lying areas benefitting
not always correlate with the
healthiest coral reefs, or the most from the direct physical protection
important reefs, for other values provided by coral reefs
such as tourism or fish production, • This number includes over
however their importance in
12 million people each the
coastal protection is critical and
should provide an important Philippines and Indonesia
warning for decision-makers • In a number of countries, such
regarding the protection and as the Bahamas, Maldives,
improvement of water quality as a
Solomon Islands and Fiji, the
means to ensure the continuation
of this ecosystem service. model suggests that over half the
population is directly benefitting
The reef crest is where the massive energy of from protection by coral reefs
incoming ocean waves is rapidly dissipated.

Modeled Value of Reefs in Coastal Defense
This simple model highlights reefs based on their proximity to shore, human populations and infrastructure. Reefs far
from people are rated as having no value.
Inset: The main Hawaiian Islands—modeled values are higher nearest to urban coastlines such as Honolulu, which may
not be considered the best reefs for other services such as fish production or tourism.
COASTAL PROTECTION FROM CORAL REEFS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
LOWEST HIGHEST
LOWEST HIGHEST
Breaking Waves 33
Coral Reefs—Building Scenarios and Assessing Costs

To further advance the assessment of the benefits of coral than triple if we lost
reef protection, TNC has worked with collaborators at the just one meter in What the model shows:
Institute of Environmental Hydraulics at the University of the height of reefs.
Cantabria (IH Cantabria) and UC, Santa Cruz to combine CORAL REEFS Reefs provide • Reefs provide significant flood
ecological, engineering and economic approaches to
value the benefits to people and property of reefs for
REDUCE 97% significant
benefits even for
protection from lower-intensity,
of wave energy – higher-frequency storms
flood reduction. higher intensity,
acting as 100-year events • Small decreases in the height of the
Using high-resolution modeling of flood hazards and
damages, we estimated the expected benefit of coral
a barrier where damages reef crest allows much higher wave
reefs for storm flood reduction. Building on recommended from storms would increase to energies to reach the shore
more than US$200
approaches, we looked at the potential damage costs • Even for higher-intensity, 100-year
billion if we do not
from four return periods (once-in-10-, 25-, 50- and 100-year storms, reefs provide critical flood
manage reefs well.
storms). In each case, we compared flooding for scenarios with
protection—global damages increase
reefs at their present height with scenarios for a loss of one meter in The countries with the most to
reef height. We estimate the land, population and built capital ($) flooded gain in annual benefits from reef to more than US$200 billion if we do
across all coral reef coastlines to a 90-meter resolution. We examined conservation and restoration not manage reefs well
flooding in cross-shore profiles every two kilometers for all coral reefs globally include Indonesia, the Philippines, • The countries with the most to gain in
and summarized these in coastal units of 10 profiles, giving our summary Malaysia and Mexico. For each
annual benefits from reef conservation
coastal segments of approximately 20-kilometer stretches, across more than of these countries, the annual
71,000 kilometers of coastline with coral reefs. For each coastal segment, we expected benefit of reefs exceeds and restoration include Indonesia,
then derived the expected US$450 million. And this benefit the Philippines, Malaysia and Mexico.
benefit of coral reefs for is only from the topmost meter of These benefits exceed US$450 million
flood damage reduction from reefs and for direct flood reduction annually for each country in flood
local to global levels in social to built capital. Reefs provide reduction alone
and economic terms. many other benefits and the effect
of flood protection on people is
Reefs provide significant,
widely felt across countries and
flood protection savings
economies. The countries that may see the greatest annual benefits relative
for people and property
to their GDP include many Small Island Developing States particularly across
with some of their most
the Caribbean.
important flood protection
benefits from the most Coral reefs worldwide are declining from multiple threats, ranging from direct
frequent storms. Small destruction by coastal development to overfishing, pollution and climate
declines in the height of change. While rising sea temperatures are having dramatic effects in many
the reef crest allow much areas, it seems likely that reefs can survive or quickly recover from climate
more wave energy to pass change impacts if other threats are reduced or removed. Alongside dealing
through to flood coastlines. with climate change at the international level, which will take years, it is
For once-in-10-year events, critical to deal with local reef stressors as a means of building near-term
As reefs are degraded or lost, problems with erosion can increase, storm costs would more resilience so that the benefits from this first line of defense will continue.
as here in Grenville, Grenada.

Flood Protection by Coral Reefs
Category 2011 (US$ million)

The benefits of coral reefs in flood-protection savings for the Caribbean and Southeast Asia. They show the additional cost that would be incurred in terms of damage to built LEAST
capital from a once-in-a-100-year storm if just one meter of reef height was lost from current reef heights. Units are in 2011 US$ for coastal segments which are approximately 1 <0.1
2 0.1-1
20 kilometers in length. 3 1-10
4 10-100
5 100- 1000
6 1000 - 10,000
7 > 10,000
MOST
Seawall, manmade barrier in Grenada, Grenada.
Breaking Waves 35
Cleaning Up
The extensive coastal wetlands, and the great banks of shellfish which still mark the margins of many bays and estuaries worldwide act as highly
efficient filters, removing vast quantities of sediments and pollutants from coastal waters and incoming rivers, day after day.
N
utrients and sediments are both a blessing and a curse in the world’s those plants and animals found
coastal bays and shallow seas. In just the right amount, nutrients, and in coastal waters that modify
particularly nitrates, fuel the growth of microscopic algae that feed their surrounding environment
young fish and shellfish, driving the diverse food chains and often, ultimately, through their structure or
feeding people and supporting coastal communities. Similarly, the right biology. Mangroves, marshes,
amount of sediment provides critical minerals and the very substrate that sponge ‘gardens’ and bivalve
allows marshes and mangroves to take hold and flourish, growing upwards or reefs are all good examples of
seaward in a give-and-take with the sea as its level changes. coastal engineers that buffer
against nitrogen and sediment
By contrast, excessive nutrients and sediments arriving from eroding soils, imbalances every day.
agricultural chemicals, runoff from livestock and from untreated sewage are
a curse that can lead to an overgrowth of algae—eutrophication. At first,
Physical and Biological Filters
algal blooms simply cloud the waters, preventing sunlight from reaching Many coastal properties have only rudimentary
sewage treatment, or none at all. In coastal areas
the seabed where seagrass or seaweeds might otherwise grow. Eventually, Mangroves and salt marshes still
this leads to nutrient enrichment which can drive the
the decomposition of the algae fringe much of the world’s coasts, formation of dead zones
sucks the oxygen out of the water. forming wide, porous deltas near
If this happens in excess, the water river mouths and emerald edges of estuaries. As the daily surge of tides
becomes “hypoxic” and carries so washes over them, they play a critical role in slowing the water flows and
little oxygen that fish and other allowing sediments to settle and become trapped in their tangles roots
animals must escape or suffocate. and branches. This same process can even help them to accrete new soil,
These places are dead zones, and enabling their own upward and seaward migrations. This fringing green
there are growing numbers of tapestry is also important for soaking up nitrogen, fueling their growth and
them around the world. reducing by 50 percent or more the amount of nitrogen that passes into
open waters. To date, there has been no global synthesis of these services
Too much sediment can be a
from coastal wetlands.
problem, too—clouding water
and reducing light, but also These vegetated coastal margins are not the only habitats that provide
smothering plants on the seabed important water purification services—some habitat-forming animal
or corals offshore. The balance is populations are also major contributors. Sponges of all shapes and sizes
critical to controlling what comes adorn the bottom of many coastal bays. In Florida Bay, sponges historically
in to our coastal waters, as well likely filtered the entirety of the Bay every three days, maintaining clear
as what is scrubbed out naturally waters that supported vast fish-producing seagrass meadows. A recent
by “ecosystem engineers,” and dramatic reduction in sponge populations in Florida Bay has resulted
in a four- to 20-fold decrease in water clarity, and a marked decline in
Oysters on the margins of estuaries around the world,
seagrass abundance, prompting both restoration of sponges and renewed
such as these in New South Wales, Australia perform a calls for restoration ‘uphill’ to reduce nutrient pollution entering the
remarkable but often overlooked role of filtration. freshwaters coming through the Florida Everglades.

Filtration of particles in the water is further enhanced by bacterial
processes of denitrification, which take place on the protected
seafloor around oyster beds, mangroves and other wetlands. Here
in Charlotte Harbor, Florida, oysters and mangroves combine forces
to provide these underappreciated services.
Cleaning Up 37
CLEANING UP
Oysters and Clean Water

Oyster reefs and other bivalve aggregations are among the most effective estimates filtration based on
of all the cleaners of coastal waters, filtering vast amounts of water from individual oyster size, abundance What the model shows:
which they collect and digest microscopic algae for food. A single oyster and reef area, as well as water
can filter 180 liters of water each day. Great banks of oysters can thus temperature. Temperature • Oyster reef filtration in most bays
yield measurably clearer waters, and the resulting transparency supports controls the rate at which oysters along the US East Coast and Gulf of
underwater grasses and other plants that need light to survive. These plants, feed, grow and respire, and this Mexico coast has declined by more
in turn, yield additional benefits, like fish production and carbon storage. is one parameter that is rather than 80 percent on average
It is something of a virtuous cycle. well documented in many bays.
Understanding the average size • Only one bay—Apalachicola Bay,
As they filter water and feed, oysters also deposit waste material onto
and abundance, as well as the area Florida—showed increased filtration
surrounding sediments where it fuels growth of helpful bacteria that
digest this nitrate-rich waste. These bacteria release nitrogen back to the over which oysters are distributed, capacity by oyster reefs. This likely
atmosphere as harmless gas (78 percent of the air we breathe is inert is a more complex undertaking reflects a conservative approach to
nitrogen gas) through a process called ‘denitrification.’ It is no wonder, then, as the methods used to sample management of the oyster fishery
that between their filtration and removal of nitrogen pollution, oyster reefs oysters vary from place to place.
there, relative to many other estuaries
are becoming recognized as a critically important part of our estuaries. Moreover, they have changed over
Scientist call oysters a ‘keystone species’ in recognition of their important time. Nevertheless, with a careful • Water filtration capacity is a
role in estuaries. review of the literature, it was straightforward and understandable
possible to find data about present metric that can be used to establish
Unfortunately, in our quest to harvest these delectable bivalves, and in our and past oyster abundance for
haste to develop the lands and waters they call home, oyster reefs have meaningful management goals and
numerous bays and estuaries
become the most imperiled marine ecosystem on Earth, with an estimated going back in time over 100 years, scale restoration investments
85 percent loss globally. Improved understanding and appreciation of their including maps of extent and
importance in coastal waters may be slowly changing this situation. information on oyster size. This
There is a growing movement to restore oyster habitat (see Section 2). information is sufficient, in fact, to feed into models of filtration capacity.
Water quality is a primary motivation for this movement, and the ability to
quantify these benefits is the key to scaling restoration investments for a With this, we were able to look at not only present-day filtration capacity,
real and measurable impact. but also to quantify changes in filtration over time. The picture that emerged
was perhaps predictably disappointing, with most bays falling far short of
In our efforts to better quantify the benefits provided by oysters, and to the filtration rate/residence-time equilibrium. Apalachicola Bay, Florida,
further motivate both conservation and restoration, MOW scientists have was one ‘bright spot’ with filtration appearing to have increased in the past
built unique models of oysters and water filtration. We need to know ‘how century or so, which likely reflects the rather conservative management
much is enough?’ to make an appreciable difference to the water quality of approach that has been employed there over time. As disappointing as the
any given bay. One approach for answering that question is to have enough filtration rates are for other bays, the model provides an important baseline
oysters to filter the volume of water in a bay in about the same time it takes from which progress can be measured, and by which to set targets for
the tide and river flow to replace this water over time. This is known as restoration. Add in the nitrogen removal, the reduction of coastal erosion
the ‘residence time’ of water in an estuary. At this level of abundance and and enhancement of fish populations that come along with oyster reefs, and
filtration, oysters are grazing and feeding at a rate that is probably sufficient oyster reef conservation becomes convincing. And, while data may only be
to clear the water and keep algae blooms in check.
available for the US at the present time, the science is, in fact, so compelling
To understand the variability in the extent of filtration by oysters in the that countries around the world are starting to ask what filtering bivalves
bays and estuaries of the US, we constructed a mathematical model that may be doing for them.

Oyster Filtration Capacity, Past and Present
Category Value
Using knowledge of the past and present extent and condition of oyster reefs in estuaries around the US, together with ecological understanding of their filtering capacity, we have been able to model the volume of LOWEST
1 0
water being filtered by a bay. These are expressed as a proportion of the total water passing through the bay. Historically (left), many bays could filter, several times over, the volume of water passing through them. 2 < 0.1
3 0.1-0.5
4 0.5-1
5 1-10
6 > 10
HIGHEST
Proportion of bay water
that can be filtered
by oysters
Oyster reefs draped across the bottom of

Corpus Christi Bay, Texas.
Cleaning Up 39
Storing Carbon
Coastal wetlands—mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and saltmarshes—are among the most effective ecosystems on earth at carbon capture
and storage. They sequester CO₂ from the atmosphere and store it in their biomass and in rich organic soils for thousands of years.
C
limate change is one of the greatest challenges of It is calculated that blue carbon systems may store
the 21st century. To curb it will take a multifaceted more than 17 metric gigatons of carbon and the system
solution, including the rapid reduction of emissions is constantly capturing more and more carbon when
from fossil fuels, but also preserving and increasing left undisturbed. Since 1990, coastal wetlands have
nature’s capacity to absorb and hold carbon dioxide Coastal wetlands are sequestered 9.6 gigatons CO2e, which is equivalent to
(CO2). The clearance or restoration of forests has the emissions of France over the same period. This is
received wide attention in this regard—forest clearance THE ONLY HABITAT neutralized carbon, packed away and posing no threat to
our climate, our oceans, our livelihoods or our lives.
has been a major influence of climate change to date, while that can continuously sequester
planting forests can remove CO2 from the atmosphere, and store carbon in soil
to be stored in the living biomass. Natural assets alone A Vanishing Safety Net
cannot solve the problem, they are an essential part of
the solution and while less attention has been paid to
coastal ecosystems, these have a unique additional value.
FOR MILLENNIA Worryingly, wetlands are being lost an alarming rate;
faster than almost any other habitat. The high rate
of loss creates twin problems—first, they expose us
Lining vast stretches of the world’s coastlines there are three coastal wetlands to large amounts of a carbon being released from the biomass and the
habitats —mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and saltmarshes. These soil, accelerating global warming. Secondly we are losing some of the only
are the dynamos we call Blue Carbon. They draw in carbon as they grow, effective carbon scrubbers on the planet. Coastal habitats loss is estimated to
and much of this is later transferred into the rich organic soils in which they be between 0.5–3 percent of their global area per year resulting in 0.15–1.02
grow. While these understated habitats do not appear to be a match for the billion metric tons of CO2 released annually (equivalent to burning 112 billion
vast forest expanses of the Amazon or the Congo, they are among the most gallons of gasoline). This loss is largely due to human causes of conversion
productive ecosystems in the world. related to coastal development, aquaculture and agriculture.
Scrubbing and Storage Along the Coasts Saltmarshes and Seagrass: Important but Overlooked
The secret of blue carbon lies in the soil. Of course, they also have an Lacking the stature of forests, intertidal saltmarshes and sub-tidal seagrasses
important living biomass, especially mangroves, but coastal wetlands, unlike were left out of carbon models for many years, but ecologists have long
almost any other ecosystem, have thick, waterlogged organic muds. As it known that these and mangroves were among the most productive
falls to the ground, dead plant matter is trapped by the wetlands’ complex ecosystems on earth. Increasingly studies are also finding deep layers of
root system. There is little or no oxygen available to break it down and so centuries’ old, carbon-rich soil beneath these habitats.
it accumulates in a rich peat. Unlike freshwater peats, however, the saline
Despite their importance, however, we still lack reliable global maps of both
waters in coastal wetlands also prevent bacterial breakdown which would
saltmarsh and seagrass worldwide, and indeed our estimates of possible extent
otherwise lead to the release of methane—itself a powerful greenhouse gas.
range from 200,000 to 1,000,000 square kilometers. With this uncertainty
The carbon rich soil remains tightly packed, layer upon layer, out of circulation we are unable to accurately predict their global role in carbon cycles and
in the soil, sometimes for thousands of years. These systems also store external climate change, but studies at local scales are impressive. It is estimated, for
carbon as coastal ecosystems act as sediment traps for runoff from terrestrial example, that an average hectare of seagrass or saltmarshes can store more
systems. Once trapped in the wetland, they too are buried in the soil. than 260 metric tons of carbon in its biomass and surface soil layer.

Seagrasses and Saltmarshes of the World
SEAGRASS SALT MARSH
Seagrasses and saltmarshes have a

global distribution, with saltmarshes
particularly abundant in temperate
and even polar regions. This map
represents a summary of the best
available information, but much of
it is low resolution and there are
likely to be many gaps and errors,
making accurate assessments of
global values of benefits such as blue
carbon particularly difficult.
Growing in warm, sunlit waters, seagrasses are powerhouses. Along The living biomass, and more especially the
with saltmarshes and mangrove forests they have among the highest dense, waterlogged muds of coastal wetlands
levels of primary production of any ecosystem. are rich and secure stores of carbon.
Storing Carbon 41
STORING CARBON
Mangroves
While only occupying 13.8 million hectares of tropical can remain stable for centuries or more. It is estimated
coastlines, on a per-hectare basis mangroves are among the the average age of 1.5 meters of sediment in mangrove
most carbon-rich forests in the world. forest in Brazil to be between 400 and 770 years old.
Despite their importance, mangroves are being lost
Similar to terrestrial forests, mangroves capture faster than almost any other forest type, and total
carbon from the atmosphere via photosynthesis, extents may have decreased by 50 percent in the
and return some to the atmosphere through
respiration and oxidation. The remaining carbon
is stored in living biomass such as leaves, branches
726 TONNES last 100 years.
There are efforts underway to conserve these
and roots. Through this process, carbon is stored
in biomass for relatively shorter time scales of
OF COAL critical systems, led not only at the political level
but through coastal communities. Mangroves offer
years to decades. emissions are offset by multiple benefits to people. Often when conserving
mangroves, the first use is to support or increase
The true potential for mangrove climate mitigation ONE HECTARE OF MANGROVE fish for consumption, but carbon may be a critical
rests in the soil, where, left undisturbed, the carbon co-benefit.
Mangrove Supporting Local Communities

in Madagascar
From 1990-2010, Madagascar lost approximately 21 percent of its
mangroves, largely cleared to make charcoal and timber. Unfortunately,
while coastal people are often the primary agents of mangrove
deforestation, they also stand to lose the most from its destruction.
Mangrove clearance puts lives and property at risk by reducing protection
from cyclones, while the same losses have a devastating impact on coastal
fisheries, a critical source of food and income.
The carbon sequestered by mangroves has a value on the international
carbon market. If this value could be realized and transferred to coastal
communities, such a benefit could both incentivize and fund sustainable,
locally-led mangrove management, helping to prevent further losses and
ensuring the long-term sustainability of coastal livelihoods.
Since 2011, Blue Ventures has been working to make community-led, rights-
based mangrove carbon projects a reality. In partnership with the University
of Antananarivo and Bangor University in the UK, Blue Ventures has
supported the creation of a mangrove soil carbon laboratory at the University
Blue Ventures is supporting villages across Madagascar to conserve or restore mangroves for the many benefits they
offer, and is seeking to find methods to bring in international payments for carbon benefits.

of Antananarivo and have trained local staff in soil analysis, and in the field
inventory, enabling the quantification of carbon stored of key mangrove
regions in Madagascar. Further work is now ongoing to establish further United Nations Framework Convention on
details on the nature and dynamics of carbon sequestration and fluxes.
Climate Change
This science, in addition to fundamental, community-led management,
has formed the foundations for two mangrove projects which will generate
payments to the local communities in return for mangrove conservation. At the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention
Blue Ventures is maintaining strong communications with national on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2015, 195 countries pledged to
institutions in support of potential mangrove conservation projects that curb climate change by keeping the global average temperature increase
will integrate into Madagascar’s national strategy to generate funds
to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius. This is important.
from the formal UN-supported carbon scheme (REDD+, see Box). By
engaging local management associations in project planning, management The UNFCCC may be critical in changing the way we view and address
and monitoring, safeguards are being put in place to ensure coastal the role of coastal wetlands for climate change. It sets the overall
communities participate meaningfully in blue carbon and gain an equitable
share of the benefits. mechanisms for internationally agreed greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions
measures and the details on how to monitor, and to allocate funds to
For more information: blueventures.org
support mitigation activities.
To inform the process, technical assessments and accounting approaches
have been developed so that countries can comprehensively account
for their carbon emissions and ongoing sequestration from a variety of
sources (or sectors), including land uses and natural ecosystems.
Until the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a 2013
Wetlands Supplement, there were no specific mechanisms to include
blue carbon in the UNFCCC. Now there are opportunities to include them
in GHG accounting and financial opportunities. For example, reducing
emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) is an
initiative for reducing and removing GHG emissions caused by forest
loss, and is intended to provide financial aid to developing countries
to enhance forest management. In some countries, mangroves are
considered a ‘forest’ and therefore can be eligible for funding to support
REDD+ carbon offsets.
Working together, mangroves and seagrass in shallow waters off the coast of Haiti.
Storing Carbon 43
STORING CARBON
Global Patterns of Mangrove Biomass

The biomass of the world’s mangroves is of tremendous
climate (temperature, rainfall and seasonality).
importance, but also highly variable. Our model shows a With this model, we are able to predict biomass for
more than fifteen-fold difference in carbon storage over every mangrove in the world, even where scientists
mangrove tracts worldwide. EVERY YEAR have never visited. Of course it is still a model, but
coastal wetlands sequester enough it is a critical starting point.
We know mangroves are an efficient carbon store, but CO2 to offset the burning of over
The results of the study confirmed that mangroves
we also know that not all mangroves are equal in this
respect—desert mangroves can be little more than 1 BILLION are a biomass powerhouse, but show the considerable
spatial variation in this role, and enable the
shrubs, while in the wet tropics mangroves form vast
forests with BARRELS OF OIL identification of the most valuable areas of all.
canopies 30-40 This knowledge can be articulated into actions. For the
What the model shows: meters high. countries with high biomass value (Indonesia, Brazil and
• Mangroves host disproportionate From a carbon-storage perspective Nigeria), including mangroves, in their national policies could yield beneficial
the latter are of particular results in greenhouse gases accounting as offsets to their emissions. For smaller
amounts of carbon—although they
importance, and knowing how island countries, mangroves may represent a significant portion of their total
only occupy 0.6 percent of tropical forest (Cuba and Solomon Islands). So when thinking about ways to finance
much biomass is stored where it
forests by area they have 1.6 percent conservation, market-based mechanisms, where international funding may
can be critical for ensuring
of the total tropical forest biomass that efforts are optimized to be found to prevent further losses and emissions, may present a significant
achieve maximum returns on opportunity as they are one of the islands’ large assets.
• Highest biomass is found in areas
which are warmer and very wet, conservation investments. Lastly, it is important to note that this study only determined hotspots
year-round Under Mapping Ocean Wealth, of biomass, these may correlate with productivity and with carbon
we sought to develop a continuous sequestration, but for now we cannot model them. Likewise, it remains a
• Indonesia has a critical role with over global map of mangrove biomass, considerable challenge to know the carbon volumes in the soil, but these
700 million metric tons of above- highlighting the spatial variability. may also be critical in determining areas to prioritize for conservation.
ground biomass Working with partners in the
University of Cambridge, we first
• Other important countries include
conducted a review of all the
Brazil, Malaysia, Nigeria, Mexico
available science. Experts have
and Colombia already undertaken work in many
• The countries whose forests have the mangrove areas on every continent
and we located information on
highest individual biomass per unit
above-ground biomass from
area include smaller nations such as
35 countries. This information gave
Palau, Brunei, Darussalam and the us a base from which to build up a
Solomon Islands, where individual model that related their findings to
forests have over 250 metric tons of overall climatic conditions. We were
able to describe the relationship The carbon content of mangroves varies enormously from place to place. Left: In arid regions mangroves such
biomass per hectare as Oman, mangroves grow as low trees or shrubs. Right: many mangroves in Indonesia form dense forests with
between mangrove biomass and canopies of 25 meters or more in height, such as these in Berau.

Patterns in Mangrove Biomass Worldwide
MANGROVE ABOVE GROUND BIOMASS

The living, above-ground biomass of the world’s mangroves is highly variable. In our models, we showed a range from under 30 to over 280 metric tons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
per hectare. Highest biomass is found in areas which are warm and wet, year-round. LOWEST HIGHEST
LOWEST (<50 TONNES/HA) (>250 TONNES/HA) HIGHEST
Storing Carbon 45
The Value of Visitors
Travel and tourism are worth over nine percent of global GDP and support over 100 million jobs—one of the world’s largest industries.
Within the industry, coastal tourism is one of the largest components.
N
ature plays a direct role in drawing visitors to the Nature-dependent tourism includes all tourism that
world’s coasts. Coastal ecosystems generate depends on natural ecosystems to provide key benefits.
clean, calm water, pristine beaches, superlative Much of this dependency is overlooked, or taken for
seafood and stunning vistas. Many visitors granted. Thousands of popular tropical beaches are
come for nature-based tourism, such as fishing, dependent on nearby coral reefs, which provide
snorkeling on coral reefs or whale-watching. sand and turquoise waters and which break the
Others come to enjoy the less-direct benefits
of swimming in calm waters, or lying on white
TOURISM incoming waves, creating calm clear waters.
Elsewhere, water quality is widely enhanced
sandy beaches. By accurately differentiating and directly employs by filtering and microbial cleansing linked to
2,000,000 PEOPLE
assessing the value of these benefits, it will be far saltmarshes, mangroves and oyster reefs. Even
easier to encourage this industry to safeguard its the rich seafood enjoyed by millions of travelers
own future, alongside building increased levels of depends on the health of the ecosystems nearby.
protection for nature. in the Caribbean Islands –
1 in 10 Residents Better understood are the benefits from nature-based
Within this study we differentiate two broad categories tourism, which are more directly reliant on healthy
of coastal tourism—nature-dependent tourism and ecosystems. Here, activities include wildlife watching,
nature-based tourism. boating in natural habitats, fishing and scuba-diving. One study
estimated that some 121 million people worldwide took part in at least
some of these activities (not including boating) in 2003, a number which
by now surely has grown considerably.
Recreational fishing is heavily dependent on the presence of healthy
ecosystems. If well-managed, such fishing can be sustainable, while also
generating much greater benefits to local communities than commercial
fishing. For example, fly fishing for bonefish, permit and tarpon is regarded
as one of the premium classes of sport fishing. It depends specifically on
the presence of calm “flats,” or shallow water areas linked to seagrass or
mangrove areas. Such fishing was estimated to be worth US$56.5 million
to Belize alone in 2007 and US$141 million to the Bahamas in 2008.
Scuba-diving is another leading form of nature-based marine tourism.
Some 6 million people are regular divers worldwide, but many more try
diving as a one-off holiday activity, and many others consider the potential
for diving when weighing potential travel destinations.
Tourists from around the world penguin-watching in
Cape Town, South Africa.

Top: Exploring a mangrove nature reserve in Java, Indonesia. Right: Divers in the Cabo Pulmo Marine National Park, Gulf of
California, Mexico. This remarkable Park was closed off to all fishing with the support of the adjacent fishing village and it
has become one of the world’s top diving destinations, generating far greater incomes for the former fishing community.
Tourists choose their destinations for many different reasons, ranging

from climate and sandy coasts, to cuisine and culture, to history to nature-
based activities. The “dependence” on nature varies between tourists,
but ecosystems help to form the land and seascapes on which many of
them, consciously or unconsciously, have come to enjoy.
Mapping nature-dependent tourism presents novel challenges. Value is not
solely driven by ecology, but by a complex interaction of history, culture,
infrastructure, politics and economics. The development of predictive
models is therefore challenging, but at the same time, vast amounts of
data—from government statistics to hotel and airline data—are available to
support the development of actual maps of use and value.
Under Mapping Ocean Wealth, we have also been able to work with
others on novel approaches to draw information from social media and
crowd-sourced databases to provide indicators of tourist activities. Billions
of photographs and traveler experiences can be found via social media,
providing geographically located information about the places that people
visit. Elsewhere, specialist datasets are being compiled by special interest
groups such as scuba divers. We have used a variety of these to develop
unique approaches to map nature-dependent tourism at global scales.
The Value of Visitors 47

T H E VA LU E O F V I S I TO R S
Coral Reefs
Over 350 million people annually travel to the coral reef The frenzy of
life and color
coasts of the world. Many come to snorkel or scuba on a coral reef
dive and view nature directly, while others are drawn by is a magnet
the by-products of reefs—calm seas, turquoise waters, CORAL REEFS for first-time
and seasoned
bright white-sand beaches and healthy seafood. drive up to divers and
snorkelers all
Coral reefs are the poster-child of nature-based

tourism. Many come specifically to visit the reefs
$30 BILLION over the world.
themselves, to swim over shimmering gardens of per year globally

coral amongst hordes of fish, but many more are in tourism revenue
unknowing beneficiaries of the reefs as producers
of sand, coastal protection, food and remarkable
vistas. Their travels support whole industries—hotels, shops, tours, airlines, infer that diving and snorkeling
and supply chains to cater to their needs, from dive equipment to food supply. will be an important part of the What the model shows:
tourism agenda.
Our global map of coastal tourism in the tropics is built from a unique • Tourism is widespread in 102 of the
and highly innovative approach in which we pulled together multiple large The final stage of the mapping work
117 countries and territories with
datasets and used them to build, correct and refine one another. Our starting was to link the values of the two
components of tourism back out coral reefs
point was national statistics on tourist arrivals and spending, including both
national and international tourists and visitors. Our first stage was to separate to the reefs that provide this value. • Only about 30 percent of all the
out the coastal component of these numbers. To do this, we used two large To do this, we used a combination world’s coral reefs are generating reef
datasets to understand the spread of visitors: data from over 125,000 hotels, of proximity measures (for the
tourism values, with many others being
including location and hotel size, and the geographic location of photographs reef-adjacent values) and direct-
uploaded onto the social media site, Flickr. These two layers both provide use locations derived from both too remote and not being accessed
independent estimates for visitation and use. We used them, along with the the underwater photos and from a even by live-aboard dive vessels
coral reef map, to filter the national tourism statistics, and to capture only large crowd-sourced dataset of dive • The global value of such reef tourism is
those areas away from large towns and cities, within two kilometers of the sites worldwide.
estimated at US$37.8 billion each year
coast and within 30 kilometers of a coral reef.
The results show many reefs
(about 70 percent of the world • There are 26 territories that derive
Clearly only part of the tourism close to coral reefs is linked to the reefs. We
conservatively assigned 10 percent of this tourism expenditure to what we total) are likely not important more than a quarter of their total
called “reef adjacent” tourism. This is the “added value” we consider that for coral-reef tourism, but that GDP from tourism, including many
reefs bring through the provision of calm water, white-sand beaches, top elsewhere the values are highly small island states such as the
seafood and beautiful views. We then sought to develop an estimate focused variable. Many leading coral-reef Maldives, Solomon Islands, Palau and
specifically on the “on-reef” tourism. This is the direct “use” of reefs, primarily tourism destinations are developing
the Comoros
for diving and snorkeling. We estimated this using two further datasets: the economies such as the Solomon
location of dive shops/centers and the location of underwater photographs Islands, Fiji, Belize and Honduras.
on Flickr. Both, independently, help us to approximate the amount of “on-reef” Many are also small island nations
activities. Where there are higher numbers of dive centers per hotel, or where with few other economic alternatives. For them, reef tourism is a lifeline,
underwater photos make up a higher proportion of all photos, then we can giving a critical boost to local economies.

Coral-Reef Tourism Value Around the World
A global map of the estimated

value of coral-reef tourism
around the world. Values are a
combination of on-reef value from
diving and snorkeling, plus reef-
adjacent values such as views and
seafood. Some 70 percent of the
world’s coral reefs, by area, are too
inaccessible to register any current
value from tourism.
Insets show the finer local-scale

patterns of value for East Africa,
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
and the Meso-American Reef in
Mexico, Belize and Honduras.
CORAL REEF TOURISM

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
LOWEST HIGHEST
LOWEST HIGHEST
Mangrove Forests
Mangrove forests are often overlooked as tourist attractions, “flats” among the mangrove and seagrass to catch
but we have mapped some 2,000 attractions and operators bonefish, permit or tarpon. These recreational fisheries
depend on wilderness, and on healthy mangroves, but
in 86 countries worldwide where people come for boating, they also create considerable economic incentives to
fishing, hiking and nature watching. look after mangroves and the waters around them.
Mangrove forests might not be at the forefront of For our initial work on mapping, we turned to the
attention when it comes to tourism. Some, at least,
Recreational fishing around popular travel website, TripAdvisor, to search for
have a reputation for both biting insects and thick MANGROVES mangrove related “attractions.” A key part of our
interest in using TripAdvisor was to look beyond
mud, but there is another vision of mangroves which contributes simply where people are visiting these ecosystems
is quite different. Every day thousands of visitors
crisscross
mangroves
$1 BILLION to explore what they might be doing there. We were
able, for example, to call out reviews of attractions
What the model shows: all around per year toward Florida’s economy that contained keywords such as boardwalk, visitor
the world, center, kayaking and so on.
• Some 2,000 attractions in the
following While mangrove tourism is unlikely to compete with some of the larger
English TripAdvisor web-pages boardwalks, taking guided boat mass-tourism attractions, this initial work provides a critical caution to coastal
include mangroves. From these, tours, or in kayaks. They see developers, and highlights potential opportunities. Mangroves have many
we searched over 150,000 user manatees and alligators in the values and adding tourism to the list may help countries to secure a future for
reviews. Several hundred additional Florida Everglades; proboscis a habitat that also feeds, protects and stores carbon.
sites are still to be logged from monkeys in Borneo; crocodiles, deer
non-English TripAdvisor sites and sometimes even tigers in the
Tourism: A threat and a promise
Sundarbans. Can Gio mangroves
• These attractions are found across near Ho Chi Minh City in Viet Nam Tourism isn’t always a good thing. The impact of tourism on nature can be considerable.
86 countries host over 500,000 visitors a year. Hotel development has destroyed wide areas of mangrove forests or sensitive beach
Every evening, boats head out to vegetation. Marinas and cruise ports have destroyed offshore habitats. Incomplete sewage
• Boat trips are a feature in over treatment pollutes coastal waters. Travel itself is a potent sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
see the arrival of roosting scarlet
1,600 attractions (78 countries) ibis in Trinidad’s Caroni swamp, or Even nature-based tourism can be damaging. Overfishing leads to poorer fishing for future
with kayaking mentioned in 784 to witness fireflies in in Southeast visitors. Harassment of marine mammals or turtles can affect their behavior, reducing their
(59 countries) Asia, or the bioluminescence in feeding or breeding success. Anchor damage can destroy corals or carve up seagrass beds.
Puerto Rico.
• Boardwalks are listed in over 230 It is against this backdrop that the concept of sustainable tourism becomes critical.
attractions (33 countries), and Recreational fishers are equally While tourism can cause harm, it doesn’t need to. Where tourism can be made sustainable
lookout towers in 140 (30 countries) drawn to mangrove forests. In it can enhance visitor experiences and generate long-term security for local populations.
Australia, barramundi and mangrove Furthermore, tourists are often highly supportive of additional charges, such as park entrance
• 75 percent of analyzed reviews jacks are among the most sought- fees when these are clearly going to support conservation.
of mangrove attractions give a after recreational fishing targets. Developing a clearer understanding of the specific local value of nature-dependent tourism, and
5-star rating In the Caribbean, the best fishing of the role of nature even in mainstream tourism is critical. It will help shape both industry and
guides are paid US$200 per day or government attitudes and investments, and ensure tourism is placed on a sustainable footing.
more to take fly fishers out into the That way, tourism becomes a part of the solution, not an additional threat.

The Global Reach of Mangrove Tourism
Class # of Reviews
LOWEST
Some 2,000 attractions in 86 countries are listed in the English pages of
1 0 -10 TripAdvisor as having mangroves. Many sites have hundreds of individual reviews.
2 11 - 25
3 26 - 50 The number of reviews may be some indication of visitation, but they can also
4 51 - 150 be searched for keywords to quantify activities or facilities. Inset shows the
5 > 150
HIGHEST distribution around the eastern Caribbean Sea.
By using TripAdvisor to locate popular sites for mangrove tourism we were able to get a clear indication of
activities and facilities. Kayaking or canoeing is mentioned in 780 attractions in 59 countries, boardwalks
such as this in Brisbane, Australia are mentioned in 230 attractions in 33 countries.

Wildlife Watching $
$
$
The oceans are home to the largest creatures on Earth, $ individual locations such values can be incredible—in Palau
and to some of the most spectacular gatherings of
$
$
an estimated population of around 100 sharks are
$ supporting some US$18 million worth of shark diving
wildlife to be seen. Observing such wildlife up-close is one $
$ each year.
of the fastest growing sectors in coastal tourism. $
$
Since the 1990s, there has been a remarkable

$
$ Pelagic Tourism—Manta Rays
transformation of public attitudes towards
$
and Whales in Indonesia
marine life. Access to places, from coral reefs to At prime scuba diving spots in Palau Tourism is a major contributor to the economy
polar icecaps, where people can experience the A SINGLE SHARK has a lifetime value of of Indonesia with a large proportion of all
abundance and the activities of nature up-close visitors attracted to stunning coasts and
has risen at rates far greater than overall increases
in tourism. At the same time, interest in marine
$1.9 MILLION opportunities to visit some of the most diverse
and a fished value of $108 coral reefs in the world.
megafauna such as sharks, whales, dolphins and turtles
has boomed. While some of these animals are still hunted, The Indonesian Through-Flow is the only deep-water
their value to fishers is dwarfed in many areas by their potential connection between the Indian and Pacific Oceans and
value alive to the tourism industry. As an example, some 600,000 its passage through the Lesser Sunda Islands creates unique
people have been estimated to spend over US$300 million annually to opportunities to see some of the most spectacular species of marine life—
watch sharks, securing some 10,000 jobs worldwide. Worked down to creatures that spend their entire lives in open, “pelagic” waters.
Manta rays already receive considerable attention. These are giant rays that
live in warm waters worldwide. They are endangered due to overfishing, but
sites where they occur regularly have become key attractions for visitors.
Indonesia already boasts a number of sites where tourists pay to see
mantas, notably in Bali, Raja Ampat, Derawan and Komodo.
One study estimated that mantas are supporting over US$10 million
annually in dive expenditure from just 11 dive sites in the country, while
new work by the Mapping Ocean Wealth team suggests that in its lifetime
one Manta in Nusa Penida, Bali, might bring US$20,000 revenue to the
local economy every year. In recognition of these values, mantas were
given legal protection throughout the country in 2014.
Mantas are not the only impressive wildlife in the Lesser Sunda Islands.
Some 22 whale and dolphin species have been reported from the region and
some appear to be abundant. Locating key sites for whale-watching could
open up new opportunities for non-exploitative use of marine resources,
giving values that in turn may support local economies and conservation
efforts, ensuring a long-term future for these magnificent creatures.
Manta rays are gigantic, harmless pelagic rays that support some
$10 million in annual expenditure across just 11 sites in Indonesia.

A scuba diver shark-watching in the Bahamas

Ecotourism in Baja California US dollars. We recorded over 250

nature-based tourism operators, What the model shows:
Across Mexico, 29 million tourists a year help provide over 2 million employing more than 3,500
jobs. Coastal tourism predominates, and the coasts around the Gulf of • The region supports nearly 900,000
people, but, of course, such
California and Baja California Peninsula are a key destination, receiving nature-based visits a year generating
numbers account for only a small
3.8 million visitors annually.
part of the social and economic over half-a-billion US dollars
The Mapping Ocean Wealth team in Mexico, in collaboration with influence of this tourism, which
• There are some 256 registered
partners in the University of British Columbia, quantified the importance certainly also supports hotels,
of nature-based tourism in this region, combining data from national and nature-based tour operators
restaurants, shops, as well as the
local governments with new information gathered through interviews with maintenance of infrastructure, supporting 3,575 direct jobs
tour operators and the tourists themselves. This region is renowned for its boat-building and more. Nature- • Specifically, in the state of Baja
coastal and marine ecosystems with remarkable diving and snorkelling, based tourism reaches its California Sur, nature-based tourism
game-fishing, kayaking and wildlife watching opportunities. Abundant greatest share of the market in
marine life includes iconic whale nurseries, sea lions, whale sharks and supports 136 operators, over 2,000
the south of the region where is
pelagic fish. direct jobs, and 60 percent of
supports some 60 percent of
Based on initial analyses, we have found that the region supports nearly total spending. total expenditures (US$314 million
900,000 nature-based visitors a year, generating over half a billion per year)
• The list of species considered most
important by the tour operators
includes sea lions, whale sharks,
marlin, grey whales, dorado, dolphins
and jacks
Grey whales gather in large numbers each year on

the Pacific coast of Baja California and support a
large whale-watching industry.

Estimated Annual Expenditure on Nature-Based Tourism
ECOTOURISM EXPENDITURE Annual expenditure on nature-based tourism in the

(US$ million)
! <1
Gulf of California and Baja California Peninsula. While
! 1-5 there is some spending almost everywhere, the greatest
! 5 - 10
concentration is in the south of the region where
! 10 - 15 sport-fishing, diving and whale-watching are all major
! 15 - 25 attractions for international visitors.
! 25 - 50
A boat load of tourists explore the rugged coast of Mexico's Isla Espiritu
Santo in the Gulf of California off the state of Baja California Sur. ! 50 - 100
! > 100

The Value of Just Being There
The value of nature to people cannot always be easily quantified in dollars, jobs, yields or visitor numbers. A whole suite of benefits exist that are
deeply important—culturally, spiritually, even scientifically—but which remain hard to quantify or value.
A
mong the most challenging ecosystem services to describe, and indeed Cultural and Spiritual Value
to account for, are a set of values that have variously been described as
The cultural importance of nature is widely held, and can be seen in the
“non-use”, “existence” or “intrinsic” values. These are values that people
support for key places and species. Iconic places, such as the Great Barrier
clearly ascribe to an ecosystem, although they may never directly use or
Reef or the Galapagos Islands, have a place in a globally recognized heritage,
benefit from them. Such values can be easily overlooked. Other times they are
as have many marine species: whales and dolphins, seahorses, sharks and
given partial consideration when they have some level of measurable metric,
myriad others. This association runs throughout human history—from rock
from health benefits to options for future use. But at its core the idea of
art and paintings from Easter Island, Baja California and Australia to the
existence values embraces much more: from cultural and spiritual inspiration,
marine creatures adorning the vases of the ancient Greeks and the frescoed
to the “right” to existence of other life, to the wonder and interest associated
tombs of Egyptian pharaohs.
with the complexity of life and the functions and interactions of ecosystems.
In many traditional societies, nature is simply part of life and culture,
accepted and embedded into all aspects of living and celebrated in
song, dance, story, dress and so much more. In more modern cultures,
experiences of nature can be more remote, but the place of nature is still
strong as inspiration in art and songs, books and broadcasting, and in
symbols, logos, mascots and much more.
Few may get to see dugongs or dolphins, or to visit the famed shores of
tropical reefs, but they still have a place in our minds and our world views.
In perhaps a light-hearted attempt to quantify this place for the oceans
in our cultural life, one study found some 15,000 popular songs that give
reference to coral reefs or atolls, with over 15 million downloads between
them from 2003 to 2014. While such a quantification may sound more
amusing than serious, it points to a deep place for nature entering into the
hearts and minds, even of people quite disconnected from nature.
Respect and love of nature form an integral part of most of the world’s
faiths and creeds. In a few cases, a clear and tight linkage is found to
holy or spiritual places. In marine settings it is perhaps best exemplified
in the tabu areas observed in many traditional Pacific cultures, but it is
more widely expressed through broader attitudes to nature. Respect for
all living creatures is foremost in the preaching of many in Hindu and
Buddhist traditions. In 2014 Pope Francis, together with fellow Christian
Traditional leaders from Kofiau Island, Raja Ampat give offerings to the gods and goddesses of the ocean to guard the sea
through a ritual called Kakes. This was held after a ceremony where the Kofiau traditional elders gave a support letter to
the Raja Ampat government declaring the zoning system for the Kofiau Marine Protected Area.

The aesthetic, cultural or spiritual values of Alongside spiritual and cultural values, there is a strong sense of the
the ocean can be hard to quantify, but few
value of nature for health and well-being. A part of this array of values
would deny their importance.
is perhaps captured in studies such as ours of the recreational uses of
nature. Likewise, a small but growing number of studies are also showing
leaders from the Orthodox the considerable health benefits of nature. Much has focused on proximity
churches led a powerful to green-space and parks, but the sea is equally important. One UK study,
call for respect for nature for example, showed that individuals living near the coast are generally
in the Papal Encyclical healthier and happier than those living inland. This effect was strongest in
Laudato Si. They made it more deprived coastal communities and so was not a simple function of
clear that, for over a billion wealth and health being linked to expensive coastal properties.
Christians worldwide, it is
a moral imperative to care
for nature, not a choice
or a luxury. In part this
exhortation is linked to the
recognition that many of
the world’s poorest suffer
as their environment is
degraded, hence a clear link
to ecosystem services.
But for these and many
others it is not simply a
requirement, or a duty
to care for nature. They
also draw inspiration
from nature—this is
clearly expressed in holy
scriptures, but should also
be experienced firsthand.
The lives of all are enriched
by nature, and it is held that
believers can experience or
come close to God or divinity in the created realm of nature, which can,
in turn, support faith and enrich lives.
Many people without any clear adherence to a specified religious faith
share similar views on the importance of nature, or of the rights of
animals, species, ecosystems or natural processes simply to exist. Indeed,
such existence values are considered to hold, whether these species or
A large elephant seal in Northern California.
ecosystems are observed or even beneficial to humans in any way at all.
The Value of Just Being There 57

T H E VA LU E O F J U S T B E I N G T H E R E
Scientific Value—Biodiversity and Beyond

In contrast to the efforts to model and map spiritual and cultural values, the
science behind understanding the value of nature in terms of biodiversity is a
relatively advanced field.
Biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth—and it is highlighted, often
alongside ecosystem services as a target for conservation attention in many
international agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Simple interpretations of the term typically use species as units of value
and the sum of species as a quantification of biodiversity. Importance is
thus often assigned to areas with the most species, but many modifications
can and have been added to such approaches—notably through prioritizing
places across a framework of biogeographic patterns, and thus enabling
important areas to be spread and to cover a much greater total number of
species. Others have drawn attention to rarity or to endemism, pointing out
that threatened species or those with very restricted distributions, may be in
greater need.
The conservation community has directed further attention to other aspects
of natural ecosystems, including functional values such a productivity,
and to measures of naturalness, or wilderness. Given the range of possible
measures for natural importance, there has been a clear move in the
conservation community to combine and interpret these measures.
The World Wildlife Fund took the lead in identifying a number of the world’s
most important ecoregions for conservation in their list of the Global 200
Ecoregions, including 43 marine and coastal ecoregions based on richness
or endemism of species or higher taxa, unusual ecological or evolutionary
phenomena, and the global rarity the main habitat types.
Such approaches have been given broader backing under the Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD) The Secretariat of the CBD has facilitated
the description of areas meeting the scientific criteria for ecologically or
biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs), through the organization of
a series of regional workshops, in collaboration with countries and other
organizations. Since 2011, twelve regional workshops on EBSAs have been
organized for most of the world’s ocean areas (nearly 74 percent by area),
both within and beyond national jurisdictions, with most remaining areas to
be covered in near future.
Top: Waved Albatross on Espanola Island, the sole breeding location for this critically endangered species in Galapagos
Islands. Below: The Aldabra sacred ibis in the mangroves of Aldabra atoll, a blue-eyed endemic sub-species found only on
this remote coral atoll, in the Seychelles.

Mapping Marine Biodiversity
2 - 50 51 - 100 101 - 150 151 - 200 201 - 250 251 - 300 301 - 350 351 - 400 401 - 450 451 - 500 501 - 550 551 - 600
NUMBER OF CORAL SPECIES PER ECOREGION
1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9 - 10 11 - 12 13 - 15

Species richness among reef-building corals (above) and seagrasses (below), both show clear concentrations of biodiversity notably around insular Southeast Asia
NUMBER OF SEAGRASS SPECIES
(the Coral Triangle), but also other areas of higher diversity. Other ecosystems exhibit very different patterns, with the centers of saltmarsh and kelp diversity both
being found in high latitude, temperate waters.
T H E VA LU E O F J U S T B E I N G T H E R E
Scientific description of EBSAs is an open and evolving process, allowing Outstanding Universal Value
improvement and updating as improved information becomes available.
The EBSA criteria include: uniqueness or rarity, special importance for life One of the most compelling syntheses of what might be considered important
history stages of species, importance for threatened species or habitats, natural places across cultures worldwide is the concept of Outstanding
their vulnerability or fragility, their biological productivity, biological diversity Universal Value described by the World Heritage Convention. Countries
and their naturalness. (Further details can be found at www.cbd.int/ebsa.) are called to propose World Heritage Sites that may be considered to be
exceptional or superlative in some way, and a tight system of review follows.
Many of these measures of conservation importance link to other
ecosystem services. Species richness, for example directly correlates Natural Sites are listed based on a variety of criteria ranging from beauty and
with the wealth of potentially important new pharmaceuticals that may aesthetic importance through to ecological processes, geology, biodiversity or
be derived from the ocean, while places of highest productivity link to scientific interest. To date some 47 marine and coastal World Heritage Sites
potentially high sustainable fish catches. However, the connections are not have been listed (see map)—including many familiar locations such as the
always clear or tightly correlated and, for many, biodiversity might be seen Galapagos, the Belize Barrier Reef, The Wadden Sea and the Sundarbans.
as an ecosystem service or benefit in its own right, or as a metric to quantify The importance of World Heritage Sites is, to a large degree, accepted
existence value or scientific value. by society. What is interesting, however, is to compare these sites with
many of the ecosystem services values described elsewhere in this book.
Outstanding universal value. While it is hard to put a number on such values, World Heritage Sites are widely celebrated The clear and accepted values that underpin such sites cannot, perhaps
for their natural values. Sea lions and the rich marine life of the Gulf of California. ever, be converted to a map-able metric that could be modelled worldwide.

Natural Importance and Outstanding Universal Value
ECOLOGICALLY OR BIOLOGICALLY SIGNIFICANT MARINE AREAS GLOBAL 200 MARINE ECOREGIONS
MARINE AND COASTAL WORLD HERITAGE SITES
Above: Ecologically and Biologically Significant Marine Areas, and the Global 200 marine ecoregions identified by WWF have both been defined by a combination of scientific knowledge and expert interpretation.
Many of the very large areas described to meet the EBSA criteria represent dynamic oceanographic/ecological features that migrate or form seasonally within the described area. Below: The 47 marine and coastal
World Heritage Sites approved by 2015. These are recognized and protected for their outstanding universal value (only a representative selection of sites are labeled).
Part Two
Changing the Way
We See Nature
Part Two 63
The first half of this book provides wave upon wave of new insights about the value of our ocean and coastal resources—jobs, health, incomes,
well-being, protection, food security and more. The importance of such benefits cannot be overstated. We now have a new kind of ocean
knowledge with which to make more informed decisions, but such knowledge must be applied if it is to make any difference.
T
he motivation for Mapping Ocean Wealth is to put the value of ecosystems, may be combined in a place; and of how such values may
marine and coastal ecosystem services onto the map, and, more extend across countries and continents.
importantly, into the hands of people who can make a difference.
Second, we consider how ecosystem services can be brought into existing
We believe that incorporating natural values into the processes of
management processes, including marine protected areas and wider
planning and decision-making will lead to dramatic changes in the way
processes of marine spatial planning. Within the management lexicon,
many people see nature. This, in turn, will inspire a renewed interest in
ecosystem restoration is also an increasingly powerful tool, and we review
maintaining and even enhancing ecosystems and biodiversity, simply
some of the growing body of work around the restoration of marine and
because the benefits of such actions are so considerable.
coastal ecosystem services.
The second half of this book considers precisely how to bring ecosystem
Finally, we provide a brief summary of the economic assessment and
service values to bear in a rapidly expanding “blue economy.” First, the
quantification of natural values, and begin to explore the considerable
challenges of building a more complete appraisal of ecosystem service
potential of developing existing and new economic mechanisms to support
values are considered: of how multiple values, sometimes from multiple
ongoing and future efforts to protect and secure ecosystem services.
The Blue Economy: New Opportunities for Our Blue Planet

According to the World Bank, more than 350 million jobs are directly
linked to marine resources such as fisheries, with ninety percent of those
jobs coming from the developing world. Of course, not all of these are
generated directly from living ecosystem services: eighty percent of global
trade takes place at sea, and thirty-two percent of fossil fuels come from
maritime waters. Alongside these, fisheries, tourism and other activities
which depend on ecosystems are found in every coastal country of the
world, generating income, jobs and food security on massive scales.
The contribution of the ocean economy to global GDP has recently been
estimated in the order of US$1.5-3.0 trillion annually, or roughly 3 to 5
percent of global GDP. Our ocean is also responsible for generating the
oxygen we need for every second breath we take and can sequester up to
five times more carbon than tropical forests.
Coastal populations are booming in all parts of the world,

including here on the Haitian coastline near Les Cayes.
64 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part Two

As more countries look to the ocean as a new economic frontier and new
source of industrialization and growth, the ecosystems upon which many
ocean economic activities depend are also changing at an unprecedented rate,
and not necessarily for the better. Ensuring ocean health is now synonymous
with maintaining ocean wealth. Sustainably developing ocean spaces for
any nation’s economic advancement and growth is the cornerstone of the
economic benefit from its blue economy, and driving blue growth.
The 2014 UN Conference on Sustainable Development helped to draw
attention to the notion of a “blue economy” and the need to stimulate
“blue growth,” for island nations and developing countries with significant
coastlines and/or maritime areas. Just as the green economy and green
growth were once on the frontier of development planning and investment,
their maritime-based equivalents have captured the imagination of policy
makers, the United Nations, OECD, development finance organizations
such as the World Bank, and NGOs alike.
While stimulating short-term economic growth in ocean areas may be
relatively easy to accomplish, the challenges of developing a truly blue
economy, with sustainability at its core, may be much greater. Developing
ocean spaces for economic growth and development while maintaining
(or improving) ocean ecosystem health and integrity could provide a
new era of economic opportunity for ocean-facing countries. However,
with each promise of ocean-based economic reward comes a real risk to
future generations. According to a 2016 OECD study, many ocean-based
industries have the potential to outperform the growth of the global
economy as a whole, including boosting employment, further predicting
that the ocean economy could more than double its economic contribution
to GDP by 2030. Only one year earlier, however, in 2015, the G7 Science
Academies issued a statement of scientific consensus, informing the
world that human activities are leading to changes in the ocean that will
significantly impact societies and well-being.
The great challenge for ocean-facing countries and small island developing
states around the world will be to square these twin challenges—growing
the ocean economy while supporting ocean ecosystems that are critical
to their very value. Better understanding of ocean ecosystems, and
particularly of the value of natural marine assets and ecosystem services
to both ecological processes and economic activity, will help to assess a
nation’s ocean wealth, and, in so doing, better define a pathway to support
the growth of a country’s blue economy. Sydney Harbour, Australia, with cruise ship. Rapid coastal development is transforming coastlines, but the need for
sustainability and a blue economy is strongly expressed by citizens and travelers.
Bringing Natural Values to Bear 65

Adding Up the Benefits—A Bundle of Values
Depending on your perspective, a coral reef may be a great fishing ground, a stunning dive location or lifesaving sea defense.
All too often, we overlook the fact that it is all three.
M
uch of our early work into modeling ecosystem services has focused on Synergies and Trade-offs
improving our understanding of the value of single services coming out
It is useful to think of these interactions between services and habitats in
of individual ecosystems. The real world is more complex, with many
three broad classes:
ecosystems in close proximity, each generating multiple benefits, but also
interacting with each other, both ecologically and in terms of the social and • Additive interactions are those where the benefits from adding habitats
economic benefits. or services are broadly additional—an oyster reef produces an additional
100 kilograms of fish, and the presence of a seagrass bed adds a further
Combined Services, Combined Habitats 100 kilograms.
At the level of individual habitats, the overlay of services is conceptually • Synergistic interactions are those where the presence of a second
simple. Further complexity arises as we think of interactions between habitat or services enhances the value of one or both—an isolated
habitats: an estuary may host oyster reefs, seagrass beds and saltmarshes, mangrove patch generates 100 kilograms of fish; a reef generates 200
for instance. Many fishery species move regularly between these habitats. kilograms, but, where they are in proximity, they generate 350 kilograms
Others may migrate offshore as they mature, returning only to breed. They of fish as the nursery function of the mangrove enhances fish production
may thus depend on multiple on the reef, and the breeding stock of fish on the reef brings more fish to
habitats, or may be able to the mangroves.
replace their reliance on one • Antagonistic interactions come when benefits from habitat or services
with the presence of another. reduce apparent benefits of another. This may be through redundancy—
Similar interconnectedness may seagrass beds reduce wave energy by 20 percent, but behind a coral reef
exist between habitats for other they become redundant as the reef has already mitigated the wave energy
services—the combined armory by 90 percent. It may also be through direct competition—maximizing
of seagrass beds, oyster reefs fisheries gains from a coral reef will reduce its value as a dive site.
and saltmarshes provide a more
comprehensive sea defense than A further form of antagonistic interaction is widely considered where human
one ecosystem alone. But there activities and particular services may bring trade-offs. The maintenance of
may also be redundancy: the role of habitat may come with a cost to existing activities, or an opportunity
seagrass in enhancing the growth cost of lost development. Thus, the decision to protect a mangrove to
of a particular fish species may avoid carbon emissions or to slow erosion may impact current timber
be less relevant if the adjacent harvesting, or future opportunities to develop the coast for aquaculture
oyster reefs provide an even better or urban expansion.
breeding or feeding ground for the
same species. Full Valuation
All too often, people take a simplistic approach to environmental
management and development. If waves are the problem, we build a barrier.
Although often accounted for individually, just one
Seawalls and breakwaters do it very well, but they don’t do anything else.
ecosystem, such as mangroves, provides multiple
benefits to many different stakeholders.

By typically delivering multiple benefits, ecosystems are different. The Decision: Convert Decision: Convert Decision: Conserve
$25,000
challenge, however, is to bring these multiple values into markets where $21,456
narrower visions often hold sway. A seawall may be more effective than a
Value per hectare in dollars

$20,000
saltmarsh at wave reduction, but if the saltmarsh is lost, fish production and
carbon sequestration are also lost. The knock-on effects on fisheries are rarely $15,000
the concern of engineers designing seawalls. Someone else pays the price. $10,649 $10,649
$10,000
Timeframes are also often missing from coastal planning. Conversion of
mangrove to aquaculture can bring massive profits (at least to a few) for a $5,000
few years, but the majority of such aquaculture ponds become unprofitable $955 $955 $1,349
in short order, leaving an unprotected, unproductive coast and a population $0

Value of Value of Value of Value of Value of Value of
with few employment options. mangrove converted mangrove mangrove converted mangrove mangrove converted mangrove
Similarly, seawalls that are built SCENARIO 1: SCENARIO 2: SCENARIO 3:
to protect current coastlines, are Accounting only
for marketed products
Accounting only for marketed
products, adjusted for subsidies
Accounting for the
total value of the mangrove
rarely designed with sea level rise
in mind. Wood and non-wood products Carbon sequestration Coastal protection from storms
Shrimp farming Fish Habitat

Well-managed, ecosystems should
have the capacity to continue Mangroves in Thailand – Convert or Conserve? The graphic to the left explains how the conversion of mangroves could
be justified in Thailand with a simplistic view of mangroves providing only one service (forest products), compared to
delivering benefits over very long
an apparently unassailable value of conversion to shrimp aquaculture ponds. However shrimp aquaculture is subject
timescales. More remarkable to multiple subsidies paid from the public purse. Adjusted for these, the value difference becomes marginal (central
still, when damaged they have graphic). In the right-hand graphic account is finally made for the full suite of ecosystem services provided by mangroves
a capacity for self-repair, with and conversion to aquaculture, even ignoring subsidies, becomes a very poor economic option.
virtually no maintenance cost. In
some places, coastal wetlands and Areas of Critical Importance for Ecosystem Services
reefs even have a capacity to grow
vertically with sea level rise. As is apparent from our maps, not all areas are equally important for ecosystem services.
Likewise, different services will show different patterns of importance. Understanding the
A critical task for coastal overlap between ecosystem service importance is a key element of planning and, in many
managers, planners, industry, settings, decisions on conservation and management of services will be driven by local
conservation and, indeed, all factors of need and stakeholder interest. A broader perspective may also be useful however,
coastal stakeholders is to build a particularly to inform international agendas, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity’s
more holistic coastal and marine call for the conservation of areas of importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services. For
planning process (see p. 72) to such audiences, there may be considerable merit in developing maps of general importance.
reduce perverse and costly losses Areas of Critical Importance for Ecosystem Services (ACIES) might parallel EBSAs (see p. 58-59)
of ecosystem services, and to as a guide for conservation effort. Guided by expert interpretation, they would require a
ensure that we maintain, restore science-driven, map-based input to inform identification. They might include areas currently
and utilize nature to its full effect. providing maximum benefits to people (with benefits described in economic or non-monetary
metrics), as well as areas with high potential values (through improved management or
Never quite as simple as the textbooks – here in
Cuba, mangroves, seagrasses and corals grow in close
restoration). Further focus might distinguish areas of absolute highest value for individual
proximity forming an interconnected ecosystem, and a ecosystem services (e.g., the most important blue carbon stores) or areas where multiple
juvenile snapper shelters among them. services and or multiple ecosystems provide combined high value.
Adding Up the Benefits—A Bundle of Values 67

A D D I N G U P T H E B E N E F I TS —A B U N D L E O F VA LU E S
Ecosystem Services Flows

Of the benefits provided by ecosystems, some accrue to people within the Indonesia has the largest extent of mangrove forests in the world.
ecosystem boundaries. In many cases, however, key ecosystem services accrue They are also among the most carbon-rich mangroves, with tall, dense
forests growing in rich soils. Using updated estimates by Dan Alongi and
to people far from the provisioning ecosystem, either outside the ecosystem colleagues, we calculated the median level of carbon storage from an
boundaries or even in other parts of the globe. Indonesian mangrove to be almost 1,000 metric tons of carbon
per hectare.
Consider the following sequence: Unfortunately, Indonesia is also losing its mangroves faster than many
The value of a reef in coastal protection is most strongly felt where people other countries. In some of the largest remaining mangrove areas in
or infrastructure are spared the impacts of waves, flooding or erosion— Indonesia, such as those in South Papua, single tracts of mangrove forest
this may be hundreds of meters to a few kilometers away. are of global significance. Standing, they represent a significant carbon
stock as well as an ongoing sink. Cleared for new aquaculture or palm oil
A mud crab from a mangrove, may be transported by boat or road to a plantations, however, and they will release their existing carbon into the
market tens-of-kilometers from where it was caught, but its value may atmosphere, becoming a potent source of greenhouse gases.
not end there. The crab may be sold on, generating additional value to
The potential profits to be had from clearing mangroves are often
shops and restaurants across a wide geographic space, before it is
felt relatively locally, sometimes by just one or a few individuals or
finally consumed.
corporations. The costs, too, may be felt locally in terms of lost fisheries or
More complex still, consider tourists diving with sea lions in the Gulf reduced coastal protection. The societal cost of CO2 release, however, is
of California. Their spending supports jobs and provides income to dive extra-local (i.e., it extends beyond the mangrove ecosystem boundaries).
shops, hotels, boats, and restaurants locally. Meanwhile, airlines, hotel Its costs will be shared by the global community in terms of its
chains, car hire companies, diving equipment and camera suppliers contribution to climate change.
often carry their profits to other countries, and such profits are spread to
A number of models are being developed to estimate the “social cost of
shareholders, investors, even to pension-holders worldwide. Accordingly,
carbon,” which is a monetary value for the cost of climate change taking
a nature-based adventure trip to Mexico can provide benefits around
into account its multiple impacts on society and infrastructure. The most
the world.
updated estimates give a value of US$220 per metric ton of CO2. Using
This concept of value flows is important not only for the development of a such models, and based on the estimates of carbon stored in the Mimika
full understanding of the entire worth of an ecosystem service, but also to area of South Papua, we calculated that the loss of one large mangrove
help draw attention to the full range of beneficiaries of nature and natural tract there, could cost some US$450 billion to the global economy.
values. The Mapping Ocean Wealth team includes partners from Duke In a linked approach, using one of the existing models that assess the
University and the University of West Brittany who have developed new social cost of carbon (SCC), we considered how that value might be
approaches to look into value flows and, particularly, at the potential to spread, country by country, using a model that allowed for regional
quantify and map these “extra-local” services whose benefits are enjoyed differences—both in social and economic conditions (RICE) and in their
far from the initial ecosystem. vulnerability to climate change—and were able to produce a global map.
Extra-Local Services—Mangroves and Carbon Stocks This tract of mangroves, largely unheard of and remote from large
populations and markets, is of immense value to the world. What is
The term extra-local ecosystem service is used here to describe a service or lacking is a means to realize that value and promote it, or indeed to ensure
benefit that is accrued far from the ecosystem that generates it. One of the that such extra-local values, more broadly, can be protected and enhanced
clearest conceptual examples can be found in blue carbon. without driving unfair local costs on the owners of the ecosystem.

The International Carbon Value of a Remote Mangrove Forest
EXTRA-LOCAL SERVICES: MANGROVE VALUES, MIMIKA BAY

This map shows the impact the mangroves of Mimika have in the
< USD $0.25 billion >5 billion US$ different regions around the globe, according to the RICE 2011 model
of the SCC (US$ billions). The figures are based on the estimates of the
basic discount rate for 2015. Grey areas are no-data areas.
Vast areas of mangroves have already been converted

to shrimp aquaculture ponds across Indonesia and the
destruction continues, as shown here in Berau.
Adding Up the Benefits—A Bundle of Values 69

Managing, Protecting and Enhancing Services
Demands for marine resources and ocean space are accelerating, leading to conflicts and resource depletion.
Holistic planning approaches are increasingly being used to address conflicts and to maximize the net benefits from the ocean. Ecosystem
services can provide valuable information to strengthen these approaches.
T
he value of the ocean is felt or experienced very differently in different Approaches to MSP must be both technical and political in nature,
places and by different people. For some, the value is highest in prime simultaneously concerned with ocean health, the use of the environment
fishing grounds. For others, it may be the best beaches or the best diving and people’s economic and social well-being. In general, marine planning
spots. Industrial or development interests may see value in returns from processes use similar methodologies. The model approach is one in which
hydrocarbon or aggregate extraction, renewable wind or tide energy, or the governments create a framework for decision-making that is transparent,
conversion of mangroves to real estate or aquaculture ponds. Such values, as inclusive and participatory. Stakeholders are central to MSP and their
we have seen, may be expressed in dollars, jobs, safety, or in more intangible engagement in setting the overall goals of the process, in articulating shared
aspects such as beauty, diversity or wilderness. objectives and values, and in determining the most critical uses to account
for now and in the future is generally what sets these holistic approaches
Economic development often takes place sector by sector without
apart from other forms of planning. Data provided by the stakeholders and
engagement with other sectors or input from stakeholders in the decisions.
others are also critical and need to cover current, potential and future uses,
Marine spatial planning (MSP) describes the process of allocating marine
and should include scientific and commercial data as well as traditional and
and coastal space for ecological, economic and social objectives, engaging
local knowledge. Stakeholders provide and verify information, scenarios are
stakeholders and the public under the auspices of a planning authority. The
developed with stakeholder input, and decisions are made for the final plan.
term has a clear overlap with integrated coastal zone management and other
ongoing work that aims to consider the holistic management of terrestrial and One of the more challenging components of MSP has been the incorporation
marine spaces, including issues of land-based sources of marine degradation. of reliable ecosystem services values and maps, often because of a lack of
While MSP approaches are expanding rapidly worldwide (see map on p. 73), information or awareness of the importance of ecosystems in providing key
one of the great challenges facing MSP is to ensure that ecosystems and benefits. Addressing such challenges is one of the primary motivations for
ecosystem services are properly accounted for in the wider planning process. the Mapping Ocean Wealth initiative. It is imperative that we better quantify
and map the contributions that ecosystems make to human well-being and
economic prosperity, but equally that we incorporate these values into coastal
and ocean management discussions and decisions. To succeed, ecosystem
service data must stand alongside other values used to inform economic
development and conservation actions.
While the maps in this volume illustrate approaches, it is important that
the same information, and the underlying models, are available for practical
applications at different scales. The online Atlas of Ocean Wealth offers many
of the same datasets for more in-depth exploration of specific ecosystem
services (http://maps.oceanwealth.org, see p. 75). This digital atlas provides
a platform for people to visualize global, regional, and local ecosystem
benefits for use in ocean planning and policy decisions. At the same time,
the science and the tools can be developed in other ways to support planning,
as illustrated on the following spread.
Artisanal fishers scour mudflats for seafood against a backdrop of the heavily industrialized coast of southern China.

Willie Atu (on left), Project Manager for The Nature Conservancy's Solomon
Islands program showing a map of the conserved and threatened areas of the
Solomons to the Mothers Union (the Mothers Union is a group of Kia women
who have worked with the Conservancy to raise conservation awarness).
Managing, Protecting and Enhancing Services 71

MANAGING, PROTECTING AND ENHANCING SERVICES
Building Ecosystem Services Into Planning

Until quite recently, marine planners had limited experience in using valuable to consider as we increasingly try to bring ecosystem services
the ecosystem service models developed by the scientific community into marine spatial planning:
to inform marine plans. In Canada, the West Coast Aquatics planning
process on Vancouver Island partnered with The Natural Capital project 1) Ensure that biodiversity and ecosystem service information is fully
to undertake several ecosystem services evaluations to inform discussions embedded in the process with decision makers and stakeholders
about offshore wind and recreation in the nearshore environment, and 2) Keep it simple—generate easy to understand ecological production
the Marine Planning Partnership for the North Pacific Coast (MaPP) used function models that are useful in a variety of contexts
Natural Capital’s InVEST recreation model to spatially quantify tourism
3) Strive for long-term success and build ownership and capacity by
values and assist with identifying locations for Special Management Zones.
training local experts to use the tools and approaches
Canada is not alone. A recent study found 22 locations around the world
4) Provide a variety of ecosystem service metrics—it’s not always about
where ecosystem services information was used for decisions including
money or ascribing a dollar value
Indonesia, Belize, Hawaii, Canada, China, USA, Colombia and Tanzania.
From this study, six cross-cutting lessons emerged that are extremely 5) Demonstrate the connection between the ecosystem services and
human outcomes and benefits to health and culture
6) Report uncertainty honestly and clearly—building trust is important
with decision makers and stakeholders.
Using an Ecosystem Service Lens to Evaluate Tradeoffs

The most comprehensive use of ecosystem services in marine spatial
planning to date is in Belize. The Belize government recently completed
a six-year planning effort with extensive stakeholder consultation and
engagement from non-governmental partners, the private sector and
civil society. The Belize Coastal Zone Management Authority and
Institute (CZMAI) partnered with the Natural Capital Project to develop
a coastal and marine plan for sustainable economic development and
coastal conservation. The Belize Integrated Coastal Zone Management
(ICZM) Plan incorporated ecosystem services identified by stakeholders
and selected by the Coastal Advisory Committee for corals, mangroves
and seagrass habitats. Using InVEST ecosystem services models and
input from stakeholders, alternative scenarios were evaluated for three
culturally important species and three ecosystem services—spiny lobster
fisheries, tourism and recreation, and coastal protection from storms and
inundation. The ecosystem services work contributed significantly to a
strong connection between ecosystems, community and economy, and
support the long-term vision for the Belize coastal zone—“a sustainable
future where healthy ecosystems support, and are supported by, thriving
Extensive consultations with the local communities in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, were held to discuss zoning systems
that look at biological, social and economic criteria, resulting in a zoning that combines local practices and modern
local communities and a vibrant economy.”
conservation.

Current and Projected Marine Spatial Planning Efforts Worldwide
IMPLEMENTED COMPLETED
APPROVED UNDERWAY; WILL HAVE BY 2025
Globally, there is a rapidly growing interest in marine spatial planning.

It is estimated that by 2025, approved marine plans will cover more
than 45 million square kilometers of ocean in 35 countries. Legend:
Implemented – plans are being implemented under the authority of
policy, regulation or law; Approved – plans are signed and approved
by the governing authority, and implementation mechanisms, such as
funding and laws, are either complete or underway; Completed –
plans are complete and awaiting approval; Underway – planning has
started, or there are strong indications from the government that they
will start by 2025.
Killer Whales, whale-watching and shipping traffic for

Vancouver. There is a rapidly growing need for joined-up
thinking in determining how we use our coasts and oceans.

In other parts of the world, ecosystem services models are filling data gaps One important lesson from Belize was that the process of using ecosystem
because of the functional relationship between the supply, service and services, like marine spatial planning as a whole, has to be iterative, and
value of the habitats and species. In Seychelles, The Nature Conservancy is outputs considered as a part of a living document. The dynamic nature of
working with the government, marine sectors, and the local conservation both the decision context and the natural marine and coastal environment
community to develop a marine plan for conservation, climate change requires that marine spatial plans and associated policies must be reviewed
adaptation, fisheries and tourism for the entire 1.37 million square kilometer and updated on a regular basis to ensure they are relevant and effective.
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Marine planning is new in Seychelles, so
Originally, the Belize plan was envisioned as crucial for managing coastal
some activities, like tourism and
resources, but by the time the ICZM Plan was passed the government
recreation, are poorly quantified
saw it as central to national economic development of the entire country.
or mapped. Clearly such data
Other countries in the Caribbean and beyond are following suit. The Natural
are needed in order in order
Capital Project and The Nature Conservancy are currently supporting the
to evaluate the importance of
Office of the Prime Minister in the Bahamas to use ecosystem services to
particular locations relative to all
inform sustainable development planning.
uses and activities. Ecosystem
services data will be used to Once a planning process starts moving forward, it may move very quickly
map the relative importance of and there is no time to do original research or gather complex datasets.
tourism throughout the 115-island To that end, there are growing efforts to enable rapid and easy access to
archipelago. datasets, and to provide basic tools that can be used to interrogate these
datasets and allow scenario-based modeling. Such tools range from the
With the prediction that nearly
data visualization platforms such as the World Bank’s Spatial Agent, to
30 percent of the world’s EEZs
developed models such as the online version of this atlas, and the tools of
will have approved marine spatial
other groups such as the Natural Capital Project and Nature Serve. Such
plans by 2025, there is both an
models can be used “off the shelf” with some hands-on training with the
opportunity and an urgency to
models and expertise in Geographic Information Systems.
ensure that ecosystem services are
built firmly into planning processes. If data are going to be made open-access, it is critical to ensure that they
Information and decision-support are well documented and will not be misinterpreted. Users need to be able
tools are needed to develop future to completely understand:
scenarios that predict losses and • how data were generated;
estimate the benefits from recovery
and restoration. In some ways, • whether they were modeled or real;
ecosystem service evaluations level • the accuracy of sampling; and,
the playing field for commercial
versus non-commercial values in • the age and the resolution of the data.
the marine environment, and for Any multi-sourced data compilation will have issues of data mismatch in
data that have not traditionally scale and accuracy, but data must always be used only in the scale-range
been mapped. it can truly inform. Low resolution data can still inform higher resolution
decisions, but only if uncertainty and accuracy are accurately understood
Dense seagrass on the reef flat in Belize, a country that and portrayed in the planning process.
is leading the way in bringing ecosystem services into a
wider, integrated, management process.

Explore the online Atlas of Ocean Wealth at http://maps.oceanwealth.org
MAPPING Coastal Protection

OCEAN WEALTH from Coral Reefs
Expected Benefits for the Philippines The online Atlas of Ocean Wealth
The online Atlas of Ocean Wealth provides a robust data-viewing framework with a series of customized
Coral reefs provide significant coastal protection benefits to nations around the world. If just the top
1 meter of corals reefs are lost, annual expected damages from flooding more than double globally.
web apps designed to enable the visualization of coastal and marine ecosystem services. In some cases,
it is possible to visualize multiple scenarios and develop tailored outputs. The screen-shot below shows the
relative importance of coral reefs across the Philippines in flood protection from a one-in-one-hundred-year
storm. The app window enables users to plot different scenarios.
A national report (pictured on left) generated within the website from these datasets explains the map
and statistics in greater detail. In this case, the additional flooding that would occur if reefs were degraded
Annual expected flood damages to built capital
are averted by conserving existing coral reefs
or lost can be presented in terms of annualized benefits in metrics of people, infrastructure or land-area
(US millions).
protected from flooding.
Built Capital Damaged Annual Expected…
Benefit of coral reefs $590 million USD
Benefit of coral reefs/GDP 0.13%
Millions (USD)
with 1m
reef loss
Number of People with Reduced Flooding 73,162
Area of Land with Reduced Flooding 88 km2
with reef
Built Capital with Reduced Flooding $970 million USD
Return Period (years)
The expected benefit of coral reefs for flood protection. The values are the damages to built capital expected
from flooding at present with 1 m loss of coral reefs by storm event return period.
MAPPING
OCEAN WEALTH
Annual Expected Flood Protection Benefits from Coral Reefs
Annual expected benefits from reefs

for flood protection represents the
predicted flooding avoided to land,
people, and infrastructure by keeping
coral reefs intact. It is an annualized
benefit of the role of reefs in flood
reduction that considers local factors
such as reef condition, asset
distribution, and storm frequency.
The five core steps that

are central to estimating
the flood protection
benefits provided by coral
reefs.
Stage 1: Estimate offshore
hydrodynamics (waves
and surge); Stage 2:
Estimate nearshore
hydrodynamics as they
interact with the coastline;
Stage 3: Estimate effects
of coral reef on
hydrodynamics; Stage 4:
Estimate onshore
flooding; and Stage 5:
Assess expected and
averted damages from
flooding or erosion. (Beck
and Lange, 2016)
World Bank. 2016. Managing Coasts with Natural Solutions: Guidelines for Measuring and Valuing the Coastal Protection Services of Mangroves
and Coral Reefs. M. W. Beck and G-M. Lange, editors. Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services Partnership (WAVES), World
Bank, Washington, DC. https://www.wavespartnership.org/en/knowledge-center/managing-coasts-natural-solutions
oceanwealth@tnc.org http://maps.oceanwealth.org/ @ocean_wealth

EMAIL ONLINE TWITTER

Conservation and Protected Areas

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are often the tool of choice for marine conservation at first appear that we are at least
initiatives and they can play a critical role in safeguarding ecosystem services. targeting MPAs at the right places.
Unfortunately, at the present time, many MPAs are placed quite far from the most Under the Mapping Ocean
important areas for ecosystem services. Wealth project, and with
partners from the Cambridge
Conservation Initiative and the
What Can MPAs Do? World Resources Institute we
MPAs come in many forms, from strict nature reserves which prohibit all undertook an assessment to look
extractive activities, through to loosely managed marine spaces where at the correlation between MPAs
certain activities continue with only minor measures to build sustainability and those areas most important
or prevent damage. Clearly, different management approaches are needed for ecosystem services for both
for securing or enhancing different services and in different settings. The mangroves and coral reefs. Our
closure of a mangrove forest to timber harvest halts any benefits from findings show a mixed array—
sustainable silviculture, but may serve to enhance carbon storage and while protected areas appear to
fish production. Fisheries closures can have a mixed effect, but there is a match well with the coral reefs
large body of literature pointing to the benefits of strict “no-take” areas most important for tourism, they
in fisheries management. Such sites can safeguard large populations of are disproportionately under-
breeding fish and so export disproportionate numbers of young, together protecting the reefs needed for
with a regular spillover of adults. Most coral reef studies have shown that coastal defense. While 32 percent
closures of 20-40 percent of all reef areas in a location can lead to net gains of the world’s reefs are in MPAs,
in overall catches from remaining areas. only 17 percent of their value for
In this way, MPAs offer a suite of management tools, which, when coastal protection was covered.
appropriately used, can greatly enhance ecosystem service provision. For the most important areas for
They can also simply serve to focus management attention, and thereby fisheries, MPAs are falling short in
helping to secure the long-term survival of natural resources. Take the many of the most important areas
example of Indonesia, which has over one-fifth of all the world’s mangroves, of both mangroves and coral reefs.
but which has also suffered some of the most dramatic losses. A recent The conservation of ecosystem
study has shown that mangrove losses have been significantly slowed in services is clearly called for under
A sign posted on the shore notifying people that
they are in the Eastern Tarobi Bay zone of the locally
its network of MPAs. This translates to avoided losses of some 14,000 international agreements such managed marine area (LMMA) in Kimbe Bay in Papua
hectares or 13 million metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions. as the Convention on Biological New Guinea, and informing them of specific activities
Diversity, and so further effort is not allowed in the LMMA. Local ownership and
How Well Are We Doing? involvement can be critical to MPA success.
clearly needed to protect areas
While MPAs, overall, are still only approaching a coverage of four percent identified for their ecosystem
of the world’s ocean surface, they are concentrated in coastal waters where service importance. More important, however, will be the direct benefits
they already cover over 10 percent of areas under state jurisdictions. Further, that accrue from such conservation. If ecosystem services can be conserved
over 30 percent of certain key ecosystems, such as mangrove forests and where they achieve the greatest benefit for people, then the results will be
coral reefs, already fall within MPAs. Given that many critical ecosystem more keenly felt and may, in turn, encourage further efforts at ecosystem
services are focused in these coastal water and key ecosystems, it would service conservation.

Marine Protected Areas and Ecosystem Services
PROTECTED AREAS (Coastal and Marine)

) PROTECTED AREAS (Inland)
MANGROVE ABOVE GROUND BIOMASS COASTAL PROTECTION FROM CORAL REEFS RELATIVE FISHERY VALUE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
LOWEST HIGHEST LOWEST HIGHEST LOWEST HIGHEST
PROTECTED AREA BOUNDARIES
The world’s protected areas highlights sites that overlap marine or coastal areas. Inset: Marine Protected Areas overlaid on our maps of three ecosystem services: mangrove biomass values in West Africa (left); coastal protection by
coral reefs in the main Hawaiian Islands (center); and mangrove fisheries in the Greater Antilles (right).
Enhancing Services
Coastal habitats have seen some of the most extensive losses of any habitats on
Earth. But recent years have also seen the appearance of numerous points of hope as
restoration projects are returning nature, and ecosystem services, to their earlier vitality.
Habitat losses in coastal waters have been immense. Coastal marshes
and mangroves, once perceived only as breeding grounds for mosquitos
or places unsuitable for building, have been ditched, drained or filled to
“reclaim” land to enable coastal development. Oyster reefs, once a dominant
feature in estuaries, were mined away for food, construction materials and
fertilizer. Coral reefs have been infilled to create land, bombed to extract
fish, or dredged away to make room for ship channels and port facilities.
The maps and models in the first half of this Atlas provide some clues as to
the likely cost that these losses may have incurred on society. The filtration
capacity of oysters around the coast of the USA, for example, has declined by
80 percent and we can assume this has, in turn, led to the clouding of water,
loss of fish-producing seagrasses, and prevented the removal of nutrient
pollution that today plagues many of our coastal bays and estuaries. Restored oyster beds at low tide in the Virginia Coast Reserve, USA. A natural cultch was added to the soft muddy seabed
and has been densely colonized by natural oyster settlement, leaving a habitat almost indistinguishable from natural
More recently, however, an encouraging new trend toward restoration has formations, and once again providing critical ecosystem services.
emerged and in coastal waters around the world there are a few places
where nature is being encouraged to recover or being actively restored.
Mangroves were the first part of this movement, but now examples are
widespread for seagrass, saltmarsh, oyster reef and coral reef restoration.
Mangrove restoration efforts already extended to nearly 4,000 square
kilometers by 2010, and figures will greatly exceed this in the years since.
The restoration of oyster reefs has received greatest focus in the USA where
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has funded
more than 531 bivalve restoration projects, mostly focused on restoring
oyster reefs. Tens-of-millions of dollars have been invested by NOAA and
others, and this does not include in-kind and volunteer contributions.
The Nature Conservancy alone has engaged nearly 20,000 volunteers
on this work in the past decade.
The reasons for restoration are varied. Sometimes it can just be a simple
desire to replace what has been lost, but more typically there are strong and
clearly stated motivations to restore ecosystem services. Whether regaining
lost services or, in some instances, creating new “natural infrastructure” to
generate novel benefits, this building of habitat is a new and important tool Restoring marine habitats is not always easy, but considerable advances are being made. Here a volunteer collects
for coastal management. eelgrass shoots containing ripe seeds. The shoots are measured into water tanks, and the seeds are cured, separated,
and prepared for planting later in the year.

As part of a public-private sector partnership, Wetlands International
is developing innovative natural barriers to encourage the stabilization
of muddy shores in Java, Indonesia. Permeable brushwood dams enable
sediments to settle, providing a substrate for natural mangrove growth in
eroding aquaculture ponds.

Restoration in Action
Multiple Benefits from Oyster Reef Enhancement infrastructure. Ecosystems can provide many of the same benefits, but, of
course, come with the concomitant advantages of generating other services,
Coastlines are dynamic places, their shape is ever-changing under
and the unique advantage in some cases of being able to grow vertically
the influence of waves, tides and fluctuating sea level. For coastal
upwards in the face of sea level rise.
communities, this fluctuation brings uncertainty, and economic
consequences, as homes and infrastructure are threatened by erosion and In Mobile Bay, Alabama, large-scale efforts are now underway to construct
inundation, whether from storms or from the regular tug of wind-driven living breakwaters along shorelines facing rapid erosion. Through the
waves and boat wakes at the shoreline. Some of these impacts have, in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), federal “stimulus
fact, been greatly exacerbated by past losses of ecosystems, which once funding” has been used to construct more than two kilometers of
baffled and broke the incoming waves and even held back storm surges submerged breakwaters, which are designed to support the rapid settlement
(see p. 30). In response, many homeowners, businesses and municipal of oysters and so gradually morph into living reefs.
governments have turned to engineered solutions, so-called “gray
Design is a key element—the reefs must serve a function: protecting adjacent
infrastructure” like concrete walls, rock embankments and submerged
marshes and seagrass beds from their prior state of rapid erosion, and so also
offshore breakwaters to reflect waves and stem losses. An unfortunate
defending roads and valuable coastal property. One of the important criteria
consequence of such “hardening” of shorelines is further loss of shallow
for this project was the creation of jobs—short-term employment during the
water habitats, such as marshes and seagrass beds.
design and construction phase, but more beside that. Economists have found
There is, however, now a small but growing movement to use “natural other returns on the investment in the fisheries sector. Recent research shows
infrastructure” such as oyster reefs, saltmarshes, mangroves and coral that for every new hectare of oyster reef created in Mobile Bay, we can expect
reefs to provide wave-breaking benefits expected of traditional gray an additional 3,200 adult blue crabs every year.
Local and Global Benefits from Mangrove Restoration

The Sundarbans is a vast mangrove forest in the Ganges Brahmaputra
Delta, spanning the border between India and Bangladesh. Some of
these mangroves have been sustainably managed and harvested for
timber for well over 100 years, but elsewhere they have been lost and the
threat of inundation is rising, particularly in the face of sea level rise. In
one large-scale restoration effort in the state of West Bengal, India, The
Nature Environment and Wildlife Society (NEWS), an Indian NGO, and
the Livelihoods Fund are working with the local communities to restore
mangrove forests by planting more than 16 million individual mangroves
covering 5,500 hectares. The mangroves will strengthen the man-made
embankments that have been constructed to protect the communities’
homes and farmlands against rapidly encroaching waters in the delta.
They will produce fish and shellfish to bring additional income and
nutritional value to the communities. Over the next twenty years, the
mangroves will also provide an anticipated 700,000 metric tons of carbon
offsets for corporate partners involved in financing the project. Such projects
TNC scientist Judy Haner inspects a newly constructed oyster reef, designed to reduce coastal erosion, also have important social development aspects. NEWS is training the
in Mobile Bay, Alabama, USA. women from local communities to establish mangrove nurseries, and to

Ken Nedimyer and Stephanie Roach of Coral Restoration
Foundation attach newly fragmented corals to a line
nursery in their nursery east of Key Largo, Florida.

oversee the planting and management of mangrove trees in the field. The approach to restoring these species has been pioneered in the Keys
This knowledge and new skills elevates their status in the local communities and taken to scale by a coalition of conservation organizations, state and
and empowers them with a sense of pride through their involvement in a federal agencies and research institutions. One partner is one of the key
project with both local and global benefits. Others are focusing attention beneficiaries of healthy reefs. Fury Watersports, the largest tourism operator
on restoration and conservation of this vast extent of mangroves, including in Key West, is donating a portion of the fee for every snorkel trip passenger
the government of India and World Wildlife Fund, underscoring the value of to Mote Marine Laboratory, a science and research institute that is involved
these ecosystems to the communities in the Sundarbans. in coral restoration. This reflects the company’s recognition that there is
a direct link between the integrity of local coral reefs and their long-term
Mangrove restoration on more rapidly eroding coastlines can be
business success.
considerably more challenging. Huge areas of mangroves in Southeast Asia
have been converted to shrimp aquaculture ponds, but, typically, after a few To date, more than 14,000 coral colonies have been grown and transplanted
years these become unproductive. Without active maintenance the pond to 100 sites throughout the Florida reef tract. Similar approaches are being
margins begin to erode—in parts of Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia the developed worldwide. By 2013 at least 86 coral species and over 100,000
sea is moving landwards at tens-to-hundreds of meters every year. In such colonies had been raised in nurseries across the Caribbean, Southeast Asia
settings, mangroves cannot simply be planted, but scientists are refining and the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Restoration efforts are driven by deep
techniques developed centuries ago in northern Europe. By supporting concerns for the fate of reefs in the face of increasing declines, and by the
local communities to build natural, semi-permeable barriers, they break desire to maintain or restore the many critical benefits they provide.
the incoming water flows and allow the stabilization of the sediments.
Mangrove recovery can then be rapid and, once established, it is possible
to break the cycles of erosion that were rapidly eroding the very territories
of these countries and threatening homes and farmland.
Restoring Corals
The southern tip of Florida is sheltered by an extensive tract of coral reef,
providing important benefits for more than 5 million people who live in its
lee. Tourists visiting Florida spend more than US$4 billion on fishing and
diving along the reef each year, supporting more than 80,000 jobs. For the
Florida Keys, south of Miami, it is safe to say the reef is the primary engine
for the local economy. Like reefs in many other parts of the region, the reefs
along Florida’s coast have suffered from various stresses, including poor
water quality, storms, warming waters, and direct impacts from tourism
activities and coastal development. Florida's reefs now receive some
protection through the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Biscayne
Bay and Dry Tortugas National Parks and state level laws, but restoration is
becoming a clear priority within the region. Two coral species in particular—
staghorn and elkhorn—which once played a critical role in reef-building,
have become rare, affecting the overall structure and vitality of very large
areas of the reef. There is a growing movement to actively restore these Outplanted staghorn coral in the U.S. Virgin
species throughout the Florida reef tract, driven in large measure by the Islands after one year of growth.
desire to restore the reef's overall function.

Coral Nurseries and Out-planting Locations in Florida and the US Virgin Islands
Some 14,000 coral colonies have been

grown in nurseries and transplanted to
100 sites along the Florida reef tract.
Similar projects are found in the US
Virgin Islands, and around the world.
A diver studies Perfection Reef, the site of elkhorn coral outplanting

by The Nature Conservancy in Dry Tortugas National Park.
CORAL NURSERIES OUTPLANT SITES

Paying What is Owed
New and better information about the function and benefits of ecosystems can inform business decisions, spur investment in conservation and
help shape economic development agendas worldwide.
M
arine systems suffer from many anthropogenic stressors—habitat that might be received in a market, adjusted market price is a more useful
loss, degradation, overconsumption among others—which, in turn, metric, which takes out the disparities in pricing that might come from
significantly affect the ecological functions of marine systems. What subsidies and taxes or other distortions relating to sustainability and
is not always easily captured, however, are the economic losses associated supply. Market-type calculations also form the basis for avoided cost and
with ecosystem degradation. Even many coastal resource managers replacement cost estimates which have proved useful for ascertaining the
overlook ecosystem values when making decisions around development or value of regulating services such as coastal protection. They provide a value
the extraction of natural goods to be sold in marketplaces. This accounting for the cost of building a seawall, for instance, that would perform the same
failure leads to perverse decisions, where habitat loss and degradation function as the ecosystem and assign that as a value to the ecosystem itself.
ultimately hurt communities and economies. It also leads to opportunities
Other times, the value of a service can be inferred from values and
to capture economic returns while enhancing natural capital systems—the
expenditure. We call this revealed preference as seen, for example, in the
ultimate “win-win”—to be overlooked. To correct the problem, there must
additional value assigned to environmental quality (hedonic price), such
be a paradigm shift in the way we conduct economic accounting.
as the higher house prices associated with sea views. Value can also be
In this section, we first consider elements of economic valuation and how revealed by travel cost methods which simply look at how far, or for how
these can be worked into wider economic planning and accounting. On the long, people are willing to travel to get to a place. A final class of metrics
following pages, we explore the many and growing opportunities to increase tries to ascertain how much people think a service may be worth.
investment and expand financing opportunities to support the conservation
or, indeed the enhancement of marine and coastal ecosystem services.
Finding the Economic Value

In previous chapters, we have explained the various values that nature
provides in mostly ecological and biophysical terms—a reef produces so
many metric tons of fish or a mangrove reduces wave energy by so many
percent. But what does that mean in economic terms? Further, how might
that translate into a financial investment opportunity? Direct-use benefits,
like fish production, are relatively easy to monetize: they have market prices
and can be traded. Non-use regulating services, such as coastal protection
and climate stabilization, are harder to monetize even though they have
an economic benefit to people. Further challenges arise when it comes
to telling the story of the multiple overlapping values provided by marine
systems. It may be critical when making a development decision to factor in
all the benefits that come with an ecosystem and the economic and social
costs if it was lost.
Under the Economics of Coastal Adaptation app in the coastalresilience explorer, users are able to develop a cost-benefit
We employ a range of methods to develop fair and comparable economic curve under different scenarios for different coastal defense interventions. In many cases the restoration of key coastal
values. Simplest is the market price. While often presented as the value habitats, including barrier islands, wetlands and oyster reefs not only provide significant averted damages, but also some
of the highest benefit: cost ratios.

Such stated preference approaches are often a method of last resort, This is a significant opportunity to
but are useful to assess value where no other methods may be available, engage with the reinsurance and
including many non-material values, such as cultural or spiritual importance. engineering sector to incorporate
nature into risk- and cost-
To place ecosystem services into broader economic and investment
effectiveness models. This would
frameworks, valuation approaches need to be transparent, honest and
inform insurers and consequently
trusted. It is important that they can be placed directly alongside values
the buyers of insurance, but it
from other sectors of the economy, which may impinge upon marine and
could also influence lenders and
coastal ecosystem service delivery. At the same time, it is important to
development banks seeking better
broaden the scope of such economic discussions. The world of economic
assessment of risk in their climate
theory and modeling, and indeed the world of economic transactions, is
investment portfolios.
often constrained by regulatory or other controls which focus on short
timeframes and narrow sections of society and commerce. Innovative The Nature Conservancy is
approaches may allow new markets, and greater recognition for long-term working with the insurance
costs, or other market and societal sectors. industry and its customers to
improve their models of risk
Consider the prospect of converting a mangrove forest to aquaculture
by incorporating ecosystems
ponds. Often, the short-term income that can be captured from such
risk mitigation. Where natural
a conversion will be immense, especially if land costs or fuel costs are
infrastructure serves an
subsidized or not internalized in the business. Such incomes, however, are
important protective value
concentrated in the hands of only a few people. The net impact can be a
this could potentially reduce
loss of productivity leading to job losses and income losses for many, with
insurance premiums, which could
only a few finding work in aquaculture. Further, the long-term returns for
incentivize private businesses and
aquaculture are often very poor. If investment models only look to short-
governments to invest in natural
term cash generation, or are modeled without proper weighting to the future
infrastructure as a way to reduce
values of natural capital assets, they will always appear to be a financially
the cost of insurance.
sound option.
Market prices are simple to determine for fish and
Under a joint initiative, Swiss Re
other harvested resources, although taxes and
Incorporating Ecosystem Service Benefits of Nature into Risks Models (a reinsurance company) and The subsidies can distort such values, particularly in trying
Nature Conservancy assessed to understand international values.
In the last three years, thirty-two million people have been displaced by climate risk and quantified the
natural disasters. As we continue to experience more intense storms and costs and benefits of coastal adaptation options across the Gulf of
sea level rise, this number will only increase. Billions of dollars are now Mexico, USA. Coastal hazards from rising sea levels and changes
being spent on risk reduction from coastal hazards. These actions create in storm patterns contribute the most to future risk. After quantifying
both threats and opportunities for natural systems. The vast majority of climate risk and its drivers, the cost and benefits of coastal adaptation
these investments go toward built infrastructure, such as seawalls and options were assessed Gulf-wide, including nature-based or green options
levees. Globally, we spend 400-times more on coastal gray infrastructure (e.g., wetland restoration), gray or artificial defenses (e.g., seawalls) and
than we do on coastal conservation. While gray infrastructure may be the policy alternatives (elevation of homes). While risk reduction is best
only solution in many settings, there is a growing awareness that green achieved through a combination of strategies, in many places nature-based
infrastructure, or gray-green combinations, can by highly effective at options were found to be among the most cost effective means at avert
relatively low cost. significant future damages.
Paying What Is Owed 85

PAY I N G W H AT I S OW E D
Innovative Financing
The detailed modeling and quantification of ecosystem services provides an entirely
new opportunity to support nature conservation using market and investment
mechanisms. These cannot replace traditional donor funding, but they can play a
critical complementary role and massively increase the pool of capital available for
the conservation of important resources.
Despite widespread recognition of the many problems facing natural
resources, and despite growing recognition of the direct value of nature to
people, funding for nature conservation efforts falls far short of needs and
of commitments made under international agreements, and ecosystems
continue to be lost at alarming rates. New and additional funding is thus
urgently needed, and there is growing interest and opportunity to look
beyond traditional conservation funding, which typically comes from a
combination of national government allocations, overseas development
assistance, grants and private philanthropy.
The quantification of ecosystem services is a critical precondition for
effective conservation financing. If their potential market value is clearly
demonstrated, many ecosystems can hold their own in a market setting
when placed alongside alternatives that may lead to ecosystem degradation
or destruction. Attractive financial returns identified by this type of valuation
will likely have far greater influence on many business/investment actors
than appeals to less-defined qualitative measures of importance. At their
simplest these approaches may be little more than an expansion of what
is already recognized in various payments for the services rendered by
nature—payments for ecosystem services, (PES). Beyond such approaches,
Large tuna purse seine fishing boats in Micronesia, off-loading their catches to trampers that will keep the tuna frozen
however, there are innovative approaches that may enable the raising of as they move to ports in China and Japan. These vessels pay large daily license fees to the countries of the Pacific Nauru
capital or the trading of services or costs in a market-based setting. Agreement in order to fish in these productive waters.
Licensed Access
the right to fish, and total effort is capped to a fixed number of vessel fishing
In the presence of a clear and valued good (a “Resource”) and a mechanism
days. A single-vessel fishing day license cost US$8,000 in 2015, but some
to control access, the option to control (or limit) access can be achieved
licenses were trading for as much as US$10,000 per day.
through licensing, with fees clearly showing a direct value for the good
or service. In many cases, the income from licensing can be directly used Another example concerns the franchising of particular wildlife watching
to help manage the Resource. This is most clearly observed in fisheries activities. Whale-watching operations are strictly controlled in many
licensing, where vessels can buy, often through a bidding process, licenses countries, such as South Africa, Mexico, Tonga and Australia, and operators
for access on a time-limited basis, often further constrained by catch limits hoping to work in these areas must pay for, or even bid for, licenses, which
(Total Allowable Catch, TAC). In extensive waters of the eight countries of can be restricted with a competitive tendering process beginning to appear
the Pacific Nauru Agreement, for example, purse seine fishing vessels buy in some countries. In some settings permits can be traded.

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) In a similar way, carbon markets could, in the future, create a significant
investment opportunity for coastal wetlands with their high per-hectare
PES uses market mechanisms to pay people to sustainably manage their carbon value. A carbon offset is any instrument that represents the avoided
natural resources so the ecosystem is able to function and deliver valuable emissions of one metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e, which can
ecosystem services. The payments go directly to those that are providing be carbon dioxide or the equivalent value of other greenhouse gases such
the service (i.e., protection or restoration of the ecosystem) rather than fees as methane) and can be used under offset or trading schemes (such as
that are managed by government agencies where a portion of the funds the EU Emissions Trading Scheme) to balance out the equivalent “surplus”
are diverted to other places or initiatives. Putting the money directly in the emissions elsewhere in the system—typically arising from burning fossil
hands of the local communities gives them a sense of ownership of their fuels for power generation or transport or in industrial processes. The
natural assets and can allow them to raise capital based on their ability to voluntary market is driven by companies and individuals that are offsetting
provide funders with monetized returns. their emissions without needing to meet a regulatory ceiling (i.e., emissions
offsets from an airplane ride). Compliance offset markets, on the other
Visitor Fees hand, are driven by mandated caps imposed by regulatory agencies. The
Visitor fees are charges levied on tourists and can be collected at a wide United Nations Clean Development Mechanisms is the largest carbon
range of levels—from national- to site-based. This source of funding can be compliance market regulated by the United Nations and the market is one
used for conservation in countries where tourism is driven by nature-based of the sources of offsets for Kyoto Protocol Signatory Countries, but other
tourism, or “ecotourism.” This is especially important in countries where regulated markets attracting interest include the introduction of a regulated
tourism is a significant part of their gross domestic product (GDP). Funding cap-and-trade system in California operating since 2013 and the planned
is often best run through an independently administered trust, providing implementation of a national cap-and-trade scheme in China in 2017,
grants for conservation and sustainable infrastructure to reduce the strain building on three years of experience with seven provincial pilot schemes.
that tourism can place on natural ecosystems. This structure can run Biodiversity offset markets were developed to allow development projects
parallel to the underlying property/hospitality returns typically captured that cause a loss to biodiversity to be undertaken on a ‘no net loss’ basis. In
in a commercial structure. order to be counted, the project needs to first demonstrate it has undergone
all possible actions to mitigate the chance of biodiversity loss. Once it
Market Mechanisms is determined that an offset is required, the biodiversity conservation
purchased must be at least equal to the loss. The Business and Biodiversity
Developing or adapting existing markets can be a highly efficient means
Offsets Programme (BBOP) is an example of a biodiversity market
to solve environmental problems. The “cap and trade” approach adopted
composed of 80 leading companies, financial institutions, government
under an amendment to the US Clean Air Act in 1990 is one of the best
agencies and non-profits. While currently biodiversity markets do not exist
examples. Here government regulation limited emissions of sulphur dioxide,
for purely marine systems, coastal wetlands do qualify.
a major driver of acid rain. The electrical utilities who were generating this
pollutant were then issued with permit to emit sulphur dioxide up to certain
limits. These permits could be traded with other polluters. A market quickly Mitigation Payments
emerged with the cleaner, more-efficient companies able to reduce their For natural resource economies, one of the more innovative sources of funding
emissions and sell their surplus permits to less-efficient firms who were for marine conservation is payments from development activities (extractive
unable or unwilling to invest in new, low-emissions equipment. Speculators industry or other) based on a calculated dollar value of environmental impact.
entered the market to bet on future prices. It was predicted that this would This contrasts with offsets, where company is responsible for protecting
be the cheapest means to move towards an overall emissions cut, and or restoring an equivalent area. In the USA alone, development mitigation
indeed rapid cuts were achieved at one-tenth of the predicted cost. payments generate over US$4 billion each year. These can be mandated

PAY I N G W H AT I S OW E D
through government regulation or contributed through both voluntary and ranging from offshore renewables to sustainable maritime industries, fisheries
regulatory programs. In particular, given the expected growth of offshore and natural infrastructure. While there are some countries looking at bonds
activities such as oil and gas, renewable energy and seabed mining, there is to fund marine conservation (see Seychelles debt for adaptation), uptake
an opportunity to require and enforce mitigation activities. has been limited to date. Even so, this market would be available today
to any government or company with a portfolio of “shovel ready” marine
conservation or protection projects ready to absorb bond issuance proceeds.
“Blue bonds”
Green bonds are an asset class issued in order to raise finance for Words of Caution
conservation activities. The market for green bonds is growing exponentially:
reaching US$42 billion in new issuance in 2015 and with expectations of Some in the conservation community express concern that the monetizing
US$100 billion in 2016. The concept is for banks, governments and companies of nature is a high-risk approach. What will happen when ecosystems
to fund investments that will have specific environmental benefits. The use have a lower market value than alternatives? By exposing them to the
of proceeds is designated to support “green” projects, but the obligation to marketplace we may hasten their demise. This is certainly an issue that
pay interest and principal remains, in most cases, a “full faith and credit” must be taken seriously. Perhaps the most important response is that these
obligation of the issuer (i.e., it is not specifically tied to the performance of market-based approaches will likely only benefit conservation as a whole if
the projects). Green project investment is very broadly defined (some would they are seen as additive to the existing arguments for conservation efforts,
say too broadly) and includes everything from new solar and wind power and if the funding they bring is additional to existing funding.
generation projects to funding auto loans for hybrid and electric vehicles. Additionally, just having the money is not enough for conservation. It is also
The market has been extremely successful and there are opportunities to tap about how effectively the money is spent, how well benefits are provided to
into it for marine projects, with the development of “blue bonds” in sectors local stakeholders and how well monitored are the natural sites.
Galapagos penguins and snorkeler in the Galapagos, Ecuador.

The government in the Galapagos charges every tourist upon
arrival a fee that goes to conservation activities.

With a small land area, but a vast
ocean territory, and an economy
highly dependent on fisheries
Seychelles: Debt for Nature and tourism, it is critical for

this country to manage marine
resources for the long-term.
The Seychelles is an archipelago nation of 115 islands in the Western

Indian Ocean about 100 miles off the coasts of East Africa and north
of Madagascar. With an Exclusive Economic Zone of 1,374,000 square
kilometers it is not surprising that ocean and coastal areas occupy a
major place in the identity, and the daily life of Seychellois and in the
country’s economic activity, most importantly fisheries and tourism.
Both sectors are relying on healthy marine and coastal ecosystems and
are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, such as tropical storms,
at very high costs to the country’s economy and environment.
To help finance marine conservation and climate adaptation, the
Government of Seychelles and its Paris Club creditors designed a debt
swap to help the government redirect a portion of its debt payments
towards marine conservation and climate adaptation.
A combination of impact investment funds and grants raised US$15.2
million in impact capital loans and US$5 million in grants to buy back
US$21.6 million of Seychelles debt. The cash flow from the restructured
debt is payable to and managed by an independent, nationally based,
public-private trust fund called the Seychelles Conservation and Climate
Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT).
This innovative financial tool will allow Seychelles to restructure its debt,
freeing capital streams it can direct toward climate change adaptation
and marine conservation activities to the benefit of their fisheries and
tourism industries and ultimately the livelihoods of their citizens.

A Future Vision
Throughout this book, we have shown that protecting or restoring ecosystem services is the commonsense option. Through maps and models,
we can now quantify the many values of nature, and we can explore the variation in values from place to place. This is critical knowledge to
bring ecosystem services into the processes of planning, financing and management. Failing to do this threatens not only biodiversity, but also
the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people around the world.
A
n exciting phenomenon is spreading from community to community Rudimentary efforts are being made to encourage financial support for
in countries as far afield as Chile and Vanuatu. Empowered with local maintaining the carbon benefits from mangrove forests. Coral reefs and
ownership of marine resources, and supported by new knowledge oyster reefs are being restored, driven by the perceptions of human benefits.
from recent ecological research, local communities have learned, or in some These and other benefits all show strong spatial patterns and drivers,
cases re-learned, that by setting aside portions of the seabed under their but our knowledge and application of these remains hampered by a lack
jurisdiction they create fish factories. Selection of the right place counts: of information.
the best parts of a rocky reef, or a coral reef, will be breeding grounds and
Through the Mapping Ocean Wealth initiative, we have convened some of
nursery grounds. The most important part of this story, however is not the
the best minds and some of the largest ecosystem services datasets ever
science, or the ecology, it is the uptake and application by people with the
assembled to address this challenge. The Atlas of Ocean Wealth illustrates
interest and authority to act. Science and tradition provided the knowledge,
a remarkable advance from qualitative to quantitative understanding—
policy-makers provided an enabling environment, and communities and
from conceptual to quantitative models, and from large-scale averages to
stakeholders shared the responsibility for changing the status quo. In
detailed maps showing spatial distribution of ocean benefits. While work is
this way, the phenomenon took hold. Hundreds of communities in Chile,
continuing, we have already laid out a compelling array of information. We
Vanuatu and elsewhere are establishing no-take fishing reserves, not
see, in wave upon wave of examples, numerous ecosystem benefits that we
directly based on scientific or governmental advice, but because they have
need to maintain and restore, for our own good.
learned from their neighbors, by word-of-mouth, or have seen with their
own eyes the benefits of protecting fish production. It is critical both to describe ecosystem values, and to ensure that these
values are accounted for in the increasingly competitive demands for the
For millennia humans have benefited from food and materials from the
use of ocean space. The many partners and contributors to this work are
oceans and from the hidden benefits of storm protection and climate
also agents for change. In Micronesia, Mexico and Indonesia, The Nature
mitigation. These same ecosystems, and their benefits, have been treasured
Conservancy is already working with governments and stakeholders to
in cultural and spiritual settings generation after generation. But ocean and
develop management plans that inform future decisions. Our partners at
coastal areas today are at a crossroads: with vast and still rapidly expanding
the World Resources Institute, the World Bank, Blue Solutions and others
coastal populations, and with new activities crowding in on traditional
such as the Natural Capital Project, are likewise already working with their
uses, there have never been so many pressures. Many ocean ecosystems
own networks and partners to achieve similar influence. On a separate front,
are in decline, and many decision makers are unaware of the benefits
the work is beginning to lead to changes in the views and approaches of the
being threatened and lost by an accelerating race to exploit this space.
global academic community, and our partnerships with leading universities in
In this setting, there is a real and urgent need to re-tell the story of the
the Australia, USA, Mexico, France, Spain, the UK, and Indonesia are helping
value of nature.
to lead and to inform this process. Our commitments to sharing our data and
The goal of quantifying ecosystem services is to bring a series of important our models should accelerate this process. Finally, at the level of influencing
truths to bear in modern social and economic settings. Work is growing wider policy and opinion, our partnerships with key communicators and policy
in many sectors to do this. Concepts such as ecosystem-based fisheries leaders, including GRID-Arendal, the World Bank, the Marine Ecosystem
management and the protection of essential fish habitat are being applied Services Partnership and other NGOs are also helping to shift public attitudes
and leading to renewal of fisheries in a growing number of countries. and to bring ecosystem services into international policy.

But more is needed.
The case for protecting and restoring ecosystem services is already
compelling, but there is still much we do not know. There are
services and benefits we have barely touched on here. Others exist
where deeper analyses will strengthen and improve decisions.
“More research is needed” is a regular refrain from the academic
community, but our approach has been to make the most of what
exists, synthesizing information and reconfiguring it into models
to produce an entirely new form of ocean knowledge. More data is
certainly needed, but by extending our approach on the volumes of
existing data and the accumulated knowledge of experts around the
world, there has been enough to make a powerful start. And enough
remains to fuel many more studies, on tourism, on water purification,
on blue carbon, and on the challenges of quantifying non-use values.
Equally important is to increase the uptake and application of
what we now know. We need to do far more to build the holistic
application of this knowledge—to build models and maps that
incorporate the "bundles" of services that exist in a given location
and across multiple ecosystems. We need to better understand the
interplay between these and alternative scenarios of ocean use: of
trade-offs and opportunity costs. There are new opportunities to be
explored and developed in the rapidly growing arena of financing,
including novel financial mechanisms to generate funding to
secure ecosystem services, and novel markets to support sound
management or restoration.
Communication is central to this uptake and application. Exciting
scientific revelations change nothing if they cannot be used to change
perceptions and attitudes. And such communication will be enriched
if we have examples to learn from and to leverage. This needs to
include examples of application—of communities benefitting from
ecosystem services, and of societies that have developed the means
to put such services into coastal planning and management.
We are telling a story that is as old as the oceans themselves, but we
are re-telling it from a new vantage point. The urgency could not be
greater. The truths about our dependence on nature are compelling.
Building this new knowledge into decisions and action will safeguard
the lives and livelihoods of millions, and enrich our planet for
generations to come. Celtic Sea, Northeast Atlantic
A Future Vision 91
Sources and Technical Notes
The sources listed below are the main published or publicly available Part 1
sources for the text and maps. In a few cases, the maps are still under
development or in review. Where this is the case, we have noted below A Host of Services
and this work represents the primary source. Readers are advised to
research the recent literature to see when the final maps are published, Making Fish
particularly as such maps may be improved or refined over time.
Contributing author: Philine zu Ermgassen
Where contributing authors are listed, they have typically been closely
involved with the work, in some cases they have led the work, or have Mangroves
contributed substantially to the content of this book through review,
revision or the drafting of small sections. The global map presented represents an interim map (albeit published,
referenced below). A revised version is under development.
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Spanish and Portuguese language pages of TripAdvisor, including many
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Predicting global patterns in the carbon storage of mangrove forests. had not been combined and the more-detailed review was restricted to
In Conservation Letters; 233-240. English language attractions. The mangrove map is unpublished, but a
paper is in preparation.
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Technical Notes 95
The Value of Just Being There Part 2
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Technical Notes 97
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Earthscan, with International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, Food and
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Paying What is Owed

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Atlas of Ocean Wealth

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M ARK S PALDING, R OBERT D.

B RUMBAUGH AND E MILY L ANDIS

Respect for people, communities and cultures

The Value of Just Being There ......................................................................................................................................... 56

Part 2: Changing the Way We See Nature ................................................................................................ 63

Bringing Natural Values to Bear .................................................................................................................................. 64

Adding Up the Benefits .............................................................................................................................................................66

Managing and Protecting Services ..........................................................................................................................70

Paying What is Owed ................................................................................................................................................................ 84

A Future Vision .................................................................................................................................................................................... 90

Sources and Technical Notes......................................................................................................................................... 92

Breaking Waves Joanna Smith (TNC Canada)

Michael W. Beck (The Nature Conservancy), Iñigo Losada (IH Cantabria),

Cleaning Up Paying What is Owed

Contributing Authors iii

Mapping Ocean Wealth’s Advisory Team:

The Nature Conservancy’s Ocean Wealth Steering Committee:

x Atlas of Ocean Wealth

xii Atlas of Ocean Wealth

Nature’s benefits Ecosystem Services

xiv Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

REVIEW MODEL MAP

Tourist Inspiration, Mangrove p.4 p.28 p.42, 44 p.50

Kilograms Saltmarsh p.10 p.30

xvi Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

2 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

4 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

RELATIVE FISHERY VALUE

Many mangrove fishers are artisanal—fishing small volumes to feed their

Mangroves provide both food and shelter in abundance,

6 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

8 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

Seagrass and Saltmarsh

10 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

12 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

A yellowfin bream loiters among rocky reefs and

Current biomass production

Essential Fish Habitat in the Gulf of Maine, USA

14 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

Far left: High-resolution surveys

Left: Mapping Ocean Wealth work

Cashes EFH Maps Description Cashes EFH Maps Descriptions

Pelagic Fish Production in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia

16 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

MODELED FISH BIOMASS

18 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

MODELED FISH CATCH

Coral Reefs: Micronesia

20 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

22 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

24 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

The Science of Coastal Protection

Maintaining Shoreline Elevation

26 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

COASTS AT RISK INDEX CYCLONE FREQUENCY

Quantifying Value—Expected Damage Function

28 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One

Living with Risk

30 Atlas of Ocean Wealth | Part One