Merk et al. (2022): The need for local governance of global commons: The example of blue carbon ecosystems

Christine Merk, Jonas Grunau, Marie-Catherine Riekhof, Wilfried Rickels IN: Ecological Economics 201,107581, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107581

The authors discuss nature-based solutions in connection with the enhancement of blue carbon ecosystems (BCE) such as mangrove or seagrass habitats. Enhancing BCEs can indeed contribute to CO2 sequestration, but the value of their carbon storage is low compared to the overall contribution of their ecosystem services to wealth. Furthermore, their property rights are often unclear, i.e. not comprehensively defined or not enforced. Hence, payment schemes that only compensate BCE carbon sequestration could create tradeoffs at the expense of other important, often local, ecosystem services and might not result in socially optimal outcomes. Accordingly, one chance for preserving and restoring BCEs lies in the consideration of all services in potential compensation schemes for local communities.

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