Resources for the Future, Washington, DC 20036, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Sep 4;109(36):14369-74. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1200519109. Epub 2012 Jul 30.
Mangroves are among the most threatened and rapidly disappearing natural environments worldwide. In addition to supporting a wide range of other ecological and economic functions, mangroves store considerable carbon. Here, we consider the global economic potential for protecting mangroves based exclusively on their carbon. We develop unique high-resolution global estimates (5' grid, about 9 × 9 km) of the projected carbon emissions from mangrove loss and the cost of avoiding the emissions. Using these spatial estimates, we derive global and regional supply curves (marginal cost curves) for avoided emissions. Under a broad range of assumptions, we find that the majority of potential emissions from mangroves could be avoided at less than $10 per ton of CO(2). Given the recent range of market price for carbon offsets and the cost of reducing emissions from other sources, this finding suggests that protecting mangroves for their carbon is an economically viable proposition. Political-economy considerations related to the ability of doing business in developing countries, however, can severely limit the supply of offsets and increases their price per ton. We also find that although a carbon-focused conservation strategy does not automatically target areas most valuable for biodiversity, implementing a biodiversity-focused strategy would only slightly increase the costs.
红树林是全球受威胁和快速消失的自然环境之一。除了支持广泛的其他生态和经济功能外，红树林还储存了相当数量的碳。在这里，我们仅根据红树林的碳储量来考虑保护它们的全球经济潜力。我们开发了独特的高分辨率全球红树林损失碳排放预测和避免碳排放成本的估计值（5' 网格，约 9×9 公里）。利用这些空间估计值，我们得出了避免碳排放的全球和区域供应曲线（边际成本曲线）。在广泛的假设下，我们发现，大部分红树林的潜在碳排放可以以低于每吨二氧化碳 10 美元的价格避免。鉴于最近碳抵消市场价格的范围和减少其他来源排放的成本，这一发现表明，为了碳储量而保护红树林在经济上是可行的。然而，与发展中国家开展业务的能力相关的政治经济考虑因素可能会严重限制抵消的供应，并增加其每吨的价格。我们还发现，尽管以碳为重点的保护策略不一定针对对生物多样性最有价值的地区，但实施以生物多样性为重点的策略只会略微增加成本。
