Publication Date:
2022-05-26
Description:
© The Author(s), 2017. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here under a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license granted to WHOI. It is made available for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Environmental Management 206 (2018): 40-50, doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.10.018.
Description:
Coastal wetlands sequester large amounts of carbon in their soils, effectively
removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and acting as a carbon sink. In this
paper, we estimate the economic value of carbon sequestered by wetlands in the
Delaware Estuary. We estimate the value of the current stock of wetlands, the value
of the historic loss of wetlands, and under a range of different scenarios the
expected future loss. We use historical topographic maps and Land Cover
inventories of the Delaware Estuary to measure the acreage of tidal wetlands in nine
distinct time periods from 1778 to 2011. Using these data, we estimate an annual
rate of wetland loss of 1.03km2. Coupling observed land cover change with
exogenous factors including sea-level rise, population pressure, and channel
dredging, we estimate changes in tidal wetland area under a range of future
scenarios for our expected future economic loss estimates.
Description:
This research is supported by NSF Coastal SEES Grant No. 1325136.
Keywords:
Carbon sequestration
;
Blue carbon
;
Tidal wetlands
;
Ecosystem services
;
Social cost of carbon
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Preprint
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