Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 0HT, UK.
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 0HT, UK.
Sci Total Environ. 2019 Feb 10;650(Pt 2):2107-2116. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.296. Epub 2018 Sep 24.
Carbon capturing coastal and marine habitats around the world are decreasing in extent every year, habitats found in abundance in Small Island Developing States' territories. However, these habitats are under threat by increased levels of economic activities and extreme weather events. Consequently, as those ecosystems become scarce their value is expected to increase. In this paper the "value of information", the increase in knowledge that renders a system or a function more valuable, from marine habitat mapping is presented through the (monetary) valuation of one regulating service provided by the newly mapped habitats. Mapping a section of a channel with a multibeam echosounder revealed more seagrass resources than in previous studies. Using values for both the Social Cost of Carbon and Abatement Cost methods, from the literature we estimate the value of the carbon sequestration and storage service these seagrass meadows provide. The impacts of hurricanes in the newly mapped seagrasses were also investigated. Despite the costs of mapping, monitoring and of projected losses of ecosystem services provision due to hurricanes, net benefits over a time period of 50 years were considerably larger. The new information provided highlights carbon capturing habitats as more important, enabling the "value of information" to inform policymaking.
世界各地的沿海和海洋碳汇栖息地的面积每年都在减少，而这些栖息地在小岛屿发展中国家的领土上大量存在。然而，这些栖息地受到经济活动增加和极端天气事件的威胁。因此，随着这些生态系统变得稀缺，它们的价值预计将会增加。本文通过对新测绘的栖息地提供的一种调节服务的货币估值，展示了海洋生境测绘中的“信息价值”（即增加的知识使系统或功能更有价值）。使用多波束回声测深仪对一段航道进行测绘，发现的海草资源比以前的研究多。我们使用文献中的社会碳成本和减排成本方法的价值，估计这些海草草甸提供的碳固存和储存服务的价值。还研究了飓风对新测绘的海草的影响。尽管有测绘、监测的成本，以及由于飓风导致生态系统服务提供的预计损失，但在 50 年的时间内，净收益仍然大得多。新提供的信息强调了碳汇栖息地的重要性，使“信息价值”能够为决策提供信息。
