Economic Values of Coral Reefs, Mangroves, and Seagrasses A ...

Section 1: Global, Regional, and Site-Specific Values
Site-Specific Values
Citations are listed alphabetically by country.
Atlantic Ocean
The incremental benefits of the coral reefs and mangroves in Jamaica’s Portland
Bight Protected Area (PBPA) were estimated to be $52.6 million in
present value terms for an optimistic tourism scenario, and $40.8 million
in a pessimistic tourism case, calculated over a 25-year period and at a
10% discount rate. Fisheries accounted for about $19.0 million of the
net present value, tourism for about $11.0 million, carbon sequestration
for $4.0 million, coastal protection for $366,000, and biodiversity for
$18.0 million. The incremental costs of the PBPA estimated in net present
values terms amounted to $19.2 million (Cesar et al., 2000).
The net present value of Jamaica’s Montego Bay reefs is approximately
$400.0 million, with tourism and recreation, fisheries, and coastal protection
accounting for $315.0 million, $1.3 million and $65.0 million,
respectively. The biodiversity of Montego Bay reefs has a net present value
of $13.6 million to tourists and $6.0 million to Jamaica residents (Ruitenbeek
and Cartier, 1999).
The coral reefs in Jamaica’s Montego Bay Marine Park were valued for
tourism, fisheries, and coastal protection. The Net Present Value (NPV)
in 1996 associated with tourism ranged from $210.0 million (using a
15% discount rate) to $630.0 million (using a 5% discount rate). The
NPV in constant 1996 dollars associated with fishing ranged from
$1.7 million to $7.5 million. The NPV of the total amount (250 acres)
of land at risk of erosion was estimated to be $65.0 million (in constant
1996 dollars) (Gustavson, 1998).
A 2005 report found that coral reefs make a valuable contribution to
the Turks and Caicos Islands, estimated at $47.3 million a year. Tourism
and diving accounted for $18.2 million per year, fisheries $3.7 million
per year, coastal protection $16.9 million per year, and biodiversity
$4.7 million per year. Of this total, $17.7 million a year fed directly into
the GDP, constituting 7.8% of the annual GDP for this small country
(Carleton and Lawrence, 2005).
Indian Ocean
In 2002, a study evaluated the Total Economic Value (TEV) of the mangroves
in Egypt, finding that it could be as high as $182,000 per year
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