title: Turning the tide: how blue carbon and payments for ecosystem services (PES) might help save mangrove forests.
abstract: In this review paper, we aim to describe the potential for, and the key challenges to, applying PES projects to mangroves. By adopting a "carbocentric approach," we show that mangrove forests are strong candidates for PES projects. They are particularly well suited to the generation of carbon credits because of their unrivaled potential as carbon sinks, their resistance and resilience to natural hazards, and their extensive provision of Ecosystem Services other than carbon sequestration, primarily nursery areas for fish, water purification and coastal protection, to the benefit of local communities as well as to the global population. The voluntary carbon market provides opportunities for the development of appropriate protocols and good practice case studies for mangroves at a small scale, and these may influence larger compliance schemes in the future. Mangrove habitats are mostly located in developing countries on communally or state-owned land. This means that issues of national and local governance, land ownership and management, and environmental justice are the main challenges that require careful planning at the early stages of mangrove PES projects to ensure successful outcomes and equitable benefit sharing within local communities.
authors.affiliation: School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, t.locatelli@sms.ed.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Tommaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Locatelli
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Binet
authors.forename: James Gitundu
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Kairo
authors.forename: Lesley
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Madden
authors.forename: Genevieve
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Patenaude
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Upton
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huxham
mesh_terms: D057965:Carbon Sequestration; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods*; D065928:Forests; D053833:Wetlands