Blue Carbon Financing of Mangrove Conservation in the Abidjan Convention Region: A Feasibility Study

For these countries studied in this report, we estimate discounted values of avoided carbon emissions by country (see Appendix 2 for the methodology). The few countries in the region with limited mangrove resources also have low blue carbon financial values. Predominantly, however, West, Central and Southern African countries’ blue carbon values range from several million to over US$ 340 million, depending on the carbon price and discount rate used. Building from the above values, a preliminary economic analysis of the net present value (NPV) of the carbon storage benefits from mangrove conservation in West, Central and Southern Africa is provided below. This considers the potential payments for blue carbon, aswell as theopportunity

highest along the coasts of Mauritania, Senegal, and Guinea, as well as from Côte d’Ivoire east to Cameroon (Figure 9). These areas also coincide with major shipping routes, with the associated pollution potentially increasing pressure on the blue carbon habitats (see Figure 10). Estimating the potential financial value of payments to maintain blue carbon stocks in West, Central and Southern Africa Due to the new financial instruments referenced in Chapter 2, West, Central and Southern African countries may soon be able to secure payments for the blue carbon stored and sequestered by their intact mangroves.

Figure 10: Major commercial shipping activity, population pressure, mangrove biomass, and oil rigs in West, Central and Southern Africa Sources: Major commercial shipping activity was determined as the normalized stressor magnitude values for 2003-2011 (Halpern, Frazier et al., 2015; Halpern, Frazier et al., 2015); population pressure was defined as the summed presence of three stressors: urban areas in 2001-2002 (Schneider, Friedl et al., 2003; Schneider, Friedl et al., 2009; Schneider, Friedl et al, 2010), high population density areas (>399 people/km2) in 2000 (Bright and Coleman, 2001; Bright and Rose, 2014), and oil rigs for 2004-2006 (Halpern, Frazier et al., 2015; Halpern, Frazier et al., 2015), where 3 = all stressors, 2 = two of any stressors, and 1 = any one stressor); mangrove biomass for mangroves classified <40 m high in 1999-2000 (Fatoyinbo and Simard, 2013); 30 mile coastal buffer created in ESRI ArcMap 10.3 from the coast (GADM 2015); 200 nm land buffer (VLIZ 2014).

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