Belize’s Mangroves: A Model for Climate Resilience and Economic Development
Belize is a small Central American country that has charted its course to become a climate-resilient economy while protecting its communities. A new Stanford-led study highlights the value of Belize’s coastal mangrove forests in terms of their ability to sequester carbon, add value to tourism and fishing, and protect communities against natural disasters. The study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution provides a basis for Belize’s commitment to protect or restore additional mangrove forests, totaling an area the size of Washington, DC, by 2030. The approach holds lessons for many other coastal countries.
Building Climate Resilience through Mangroves
Many countries are failing to meet their international climate commitments. Nature-based solutions, such as sequestering carbon in mangroves, seagrasses, and salt marshes, offer a promising solution. These solutions help nations reduce their greenhouse gas emissions while adapting to climate change. However, major coastal countries, including the United States, have largely ignored these so-called blue carbon strategies. This is because calculating the amount of carbon wetlands and other coastal ecosystems can sequester is complex, and it’s challenging to implement these strategies to maximize co-benefits for the economy, flood risk reduction, and other sectors.
Maximizing the Co-Benefits for the Economy, Flood Risk Reduction, and Other Sectors
Working alongside Belizean policymakers and stakeholders, the researchers quantified carbon storage and sequestration using land-cover data from Belize and field estimates from Mexico. They quantified coastal flood risk reduction, tourism, and fisheries co-benefits by modeling related services, such as lobster hatcheries, provided by mangroves currently and in future protection and restoration scenarios in various locations. Among their findings:
In some areas, relatively small amounts of mangrove restoration can have significant benefits for tourism and fisheries. Conversely, total organic carbon sequestration is initially lower when mangrove areas are restored than when existing forests are protected because it takes time for carbon stocks to accumulate in soil and biomass.
Another key takeaway: the rate of increase of benefits other than carbon storage begins to slow at a certain point as mangrove area continues to increase. Predicting these tipping points can help stakeholders and policymakers decide how to most effectively balance ecosystem protection with coastal development. Similarly, identifying the locations where blue carbon strategies would deliver the greatest co-benefit delivery can help bolster local support.
Belize’s Commitment to Protect and Restore Mangroves
Based on the findings, Belizean policymakers have committed to protect an additional 46 square miles of existing mangroves, bringing the national total under protection to 96 square miles, and to restore 15 square miles of mangroves by 2030. If realized, the effort will not only help store and sequester millions of tons of carbon, but it will also boost lobster fishing by up to 66%, generate multi-million dollars of mangrove tourism annually, and reduce the risk of coastal hazards for at least 30% more of people, according to the researchers.
The significance of these numbers is noteworthy for a country with a population smaller than Tulsa, Oklahoma, and a GDP equal to about 2% of New York City’s annual budget.
Building a Global Climate Resilience Partnership
Since the approach addresses both climate and sustainable development goals, it opens up new opportunities to finance nature-based solutions in countries like Belize. In the coming months, the Natural Capital Project, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Asian Development Bank will work with ten countries, including Belize, to support the integration and accountability of such nature-based approaches in the decision making on policies and investments.
“The example of Belize, which illustrates the practical ways in which the many benefits of nature can be spatially quantified and inform a country’s climate policy and investments, is now poised to scale globally with development banks and country leaders,” said study co-author Mary Ruckelshaus, executive director. of the Stanford Natural Capital Project.
Keywords: Belize, mangroves, carbon sequestration, climate resilience, blue carbon strategies, sustainable development goals, nature-based solutions, Inter-American Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Natural Capital Project
Additional Piece:
Mangroves are salt-tolerant trees, shrubs, and other plants that live in mangrove swamps along the tropical and subtropical tidal coasts. Mangroves play an essential role in damping ocean waves, protecting shorelines from erosion, providing habitats for wildlife, maintaining water quality, and providing ecosystem benefits like sequestering carbon. Mangroves are one of the world’s most valuable ecosystems found in over 123 countries and territories worldwide. However, due to human activity, over a third of the world’s mangroves have been destroyed.
Deforestation, aquaculture, urbanization, and pollution from plastic waste are some of the common threats to mangroves. Human activities can be harmful to the essential services that mangroves provide, such as food security, livelihoods, and carbon storage, and increase the vulnerability of adjacent coastal communities to natural hazards.
The conservation and restoration of mangrove ecosystems are critical for achieving global climate priorities, particularly those aligned with the Paris Agreement, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs), and the Convention on Biological Diversity. The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through the conservation of mangroves and other coastal ecosystems is a critical solution to climate change.
In addition to carbon sequestration, mangrove ecosystems offer numerous co-benefits, such as coastal protection, fisheries, tourism, and biodiversity. Coastal protection is essential as it provides a buffer zone for storm surges, tsunamis, floods, and sea-level rise. Fisheries contribute to the livelihoods of about 12% of the world’s population, and some fish populations and invertebrates use mangrove habitats for nursery grounds, feeding, and breeding.
Ecotourism is another significant source of revenue generated through mangrove ecosystems as tourists come to see unique wildlife and enjoy the natural beauty of mangroves. For example, in Belize, mangrove tourism generates over $5 million in annual revenues. In addition, mangroves provide essential habitats for wildlife, such as corals, crabs, shrimp, and several species of birds.
Conclusion
Mangroves’ conservation and restoration are critical for the fight against climate change and boosting the sustainable development of coastal communities. Governments should take measures to protect mangroves and ensure their livelihoods are not threatened to maintain the essential services that mangroves provide for society. The private sector and non-governmental organizations should also be involved in the efforts to conserve and restore mangroves, especially through corporate social responsibility, community-based ecotourism, and partnerships.
The case of Belize provides an excellent model for the value and potential of mangroves’ conservation and restoration. As the world seeks to grapple with the impacts of climate change, it is clear that solutions exist in often-overlooked efforts such as nature-based solutions, particularly in mangroves restoration and conservation.
Summary:
Belize’s coastal mangrove forests provide carbon sequestration, coastal protection, fisheries, tourism, and biodiversity benefits. Protecting and restoring these essential ecosystems is critical for achieving global climate priorities, particularly those aligned with the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Mangroves are threatened by human activities such as deforestation, aquaculture, urbanization, and pollution. The case of Belize provides a model for mangroves’ conservation, highlighting the essential value that these ecosystems have and the potential for sustainable development and poverty reduction.
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A small Central American country is charting a path to curb climate change, while boosting the economy and making communities safer. A new Stanford-led study quantifies the value of Belize’s coastal mangrove forests in terms of how much carbon they can hold, the value they can add to tourism and fishing, and the protection they can provide against coastal storms and other hazards. Importantly, the findings, published June 1 in Nature Ecology and Evolutionthey have already provided a basis for Belize’s commitment to protect or restore additional mangrove forests totaling an area the size of Washington, DC, by 2030. The approach holds lessons for many other coastal countries.
“The United States has one of the longest coastlines in the world and extensive wetlands,” said the study’s lead author, Katie Arkema, a Stanford Natural Capital Project scientist at the time of the research, now at the Northwest National Laboratory of the United States. Pacific and the University of Washington “This paper offers an approach we could use to set evidence-based climate resiliency and economic development goals.”
Many countries have been struggling to meet their international climate commitments. Nature-based solutions, such as locking up or sequestering carbon in mangroves, seagrasses, and salt marshes, offer a promising solution: They help nations reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and also adapt to climate change. However, major coastal countries, including the US, have largely ignored these so-called blue carbon strategies. The oversight is due in part to the complexity of calculating how much carbon wetlands and other coastal ecosystems can sequester, and where to implement these strategies to maximize co-benefits for the economy, flood risk reduction, and other sectors.
Maximizing the benefits
Working alongside other scientists, as well as Belizean policymakers and stakeholders, the researchers quantified carbon storage and sequestration using land cover data from Belize and field estimates from Mexico. They quantified coastal flood risk reduction, tourism, and fisheries co-benefits by modeling related services, such as lobster hatcheries, provided by mangroves currently and in future protection and restoration scenarios in various locations.
Among their findings: In some areas, relatively small amounts of mangrove restoration can have large benefits for tourism and fisheries. Conversely, total organic carbon sequestration is initially lower when mangrove areas are restored than when existing forests are protected because it takes time for carbon stocks to accumulate in soil and biomass.
Another key takeaway: the rate of increase of benefits other than carbon storage begins to slow at a certain point as mangrove area continues to increase. Predicting these tipping points can help stakeholders and policymakers decide how to most effectively balance ecosystem protection with coastal development. Similarly, identifying locations where blue carbon strategies would deliver the greatest co-benefit delivery can help bolster local support.
Based on the findings, Belizean policymakers have committed to protect an additional 46 square miles of existing mangroves, bringing the national total under protection to 96 square miles, and to restore 15 square miles of mangroves by 2030. If realized, the effort will not end. They only store and sequester millions of tons of carbon, but they also boost lobster fishing by up to 66%, generate multi-million dollars of mangrove tourism annually, and reduce the risk of coastal hazards for at least 30% more of people, according to the researchers. Models
The numbers are significant for a country with a population smaller than Tulsa, Oklahoma, and a GDP equal to about 2% of New York City’s annual budget.
Because the approach addresses both climate and sustainable development goals, it opens up new opportunities to finance nature-based solutions in countries like Belize. In the coming months, the Natural Capital Project, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank will work with 10 countries, including Belize, to support the integration and accountability of such nature-based approaches in the decision-making on policies and investments. processes (read more).
“The example of Belize, which illustrates the practical ways in which the many benefits of nature can be spatially quantified and inform a country’s climate policy and investments, is now poised to scale globally with development banks and country leaders,” said study co-author Mary Ruckelshaus, executive director. of the Stanford Natural Capital Project.
The study was funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the World Wildlife Fund.
Study co-authors also include Jade Delevaux of the Natural Capital Project; Jessica Silver and Samantha Winder of the Natural Capital Project and the University of Washington; and researchers from Silvestrum Climate Associates, the World Wildlife Fund, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the University of Minnesota, the Belize National Climate Change Office, and the Belize Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230601155954.htm
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