The Abu Dhabi Blue Carbon Demonstration Project

Ecosystem Services Values

Ecosystem services beyond carbon Blue Carbon ecosystems provide valuable ecosystem services beyond carbon sequestration and storage. From a Blue Carbon perspective, these can be referred to as co-benefits to carbon. Contributing to the beauty of the Abu Dhabi environment, these Blue Carbon ecosystems enhance human well-being in many ways at the local, regional, and global scale. Locally, they contribute to maintaining livelihoods, providing food and recreation, reducing vulnerabilities to sea level rise, storm events and spread of disease. At the regional level, they maintain the web of life in both the Gulf and the coastal areas in countries bordering it – an increasingly critical contribution given the rapid loss of these ecosystems. On a global scale, understanding these ecosystems in terms of the benefits they offer and the ways they are threatened provides valuable knowledge and ground- truthing for the rest of the world.

Each of the Blue Carbon ecosystems in Abu Dhabi has a role in supporting the overall biodiversity, natural productivity and environmental health of the Emirate. Many perform pivotal roles, and their loss could create irreversible degradation and lost opportunities to take advantage of natural capital and its benefits. In particular, mangrove, seagrass, salt marsh, and to some extent algal mats play a role in maintaining coastal water quality. This in turn allows for recreational and tourism use, reduces costs of desalination, diminishes the chance for public health problems relating to exposure to toxins (via bathing or seafood) and prevents reductions in commercial fisheries. Similarly, mangroves, seagrass, salt marsh and associated coral reefs offshore maintain shorelines and navigation channels, reduce chronic erosion and buffer land and property from storm surges. Mangrove and seagrass are particularly critical in supporting fisheries production, valued by commercial, traditional and recreational fishers alike. Collectively, Blue Carbon ecosystems play a key role in contributing to a healthy, aesthetically pleasing, and resilient coastal environment.

© AGEDI / Rob Barnes

43