Marine Ecosystem Change and Services

This chapter discusses the economic value and ecosystem services of the ocean. The world fisheries and mariculture sector make up multibillion dollar industries, and the ecosystem goods including wood from mangrove forests and sand for building purposes make up US$ 6 trillion yearly. Coastal vegetation also serves to regulate the fluxes of matter such as nutrient pollution and sedimentation that can be quantified as the cost of a wastewater treatment plant. To argue for the protection of such systems is called an ecological economics approach of quantifying ecosystems services of the ocean. Coastal vegetation also serves as coastal protection, and for carbon sequestration. There are also huge resources generated by tourism in coastal areas.

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