Ecosystem service valuations of mangrove ecosystems to inform decision making and future valuation exercises.

ABSTRACT: The valuation of ecosystem services is a complex process as it includes several dimensions (ecological, socio-cultural and economic) and not all of these can be quantified in monetary units. The aim of this paper is to conduct an ecosystem services valuation study for mangroves ecosystems, the results of which can be used to inform governance and management of mangroves. We used an expert-based participatory approach (the Delphi technique) to identify, categorize and rank the various ecosystem services provided by mangrove ecosystems at a global scale. Subsequently we looked for evidence in the existing ecosystem services literature for monetary valuations of these ecosystem service categories throughout the biogeographic distribution of mangroves. We then compared the relative ranking of

SUBMITTER: Mukherjee N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4171500 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature