Ecosystem Service Valuation of Blue Carbon Habitats: A Review for Saltmarshes and Seagrasses

Oceans and coastal marine ecosystems, particularly vegetated coastal habitats such as mangroves, seagrass, and saltmarsh, play a significant role in the global carbon cycle as long-term carbon sinks. Ensuring that these habitats continue to function as sinks and do not become sources of emissions through habitat degradation is vital for climate and environmental policy goals. These blue carbon ecosystems also provide a number of other important ecosystem services to societies. Understanding the economic value of blue carbon ecosystems is necessary to make informed policy decisions that weigh the costs and benefits of ecosystem management plans. This paper reviews the current literature on ecosystem service valuation associated with two such blue carbon habitat types; saltmarshes and seagrasses. It examines the methods used and identifies remaining gaps in terms of important service benefit values that are underrepresented. The results indicate that saltmarsh and seagrass ecosystems provide a wealth of services that can be valued using established economic methods, but there remains a significant knowledge deficit in certain regions when it comes to the estimation of particular benefit values.