Benefit-cost analysis of small-scale active restoration in blue carbon ecosystems

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Provides empirical cost-benefit data on small-scale blue carbon restoration and identifies structural issues in carbon crediting frameworks.

🏢実務担当者:Offers cost benchmarks and an optimal coverage intensity (40%) for coastal restoration projects, useful for project planning and budgeting.

🏛政策担当者:Highlights the need to reform carbon crediting schemes to better align with the multi-decadal cost recovery of restoration projects.

Coastal wetland (‘blue carbon’) restoration is widely recognised as a strategy for climate change mitigation and coastal resilience, yet the economic viability of small-scale projects (< 12 ha), the scale at which local councils and community groups most commonly operate, remains poorly understood. This study presents a benefit-cost analysis of active mangrove and saltmarsh restoration using biodegradable structures at five coastal wetland sites in Victoria, Australia. We evaluated four structure coverage intensities (20–80%) over three temporal horizons (25-year, 100-year, and full vegetation maturity). Implementation costs scaled proportionally with coverage intensity, with imported biodegradable structures representing the largest single expense. Subsequent deployments substantially reduced costs through equipment reuse. A medium-intensity strategy (40% coverage) achieved the most favourable economic outcomes, balancing upfront investment against long-term ecosystem service delivery across carbon sequestration, nitrogen cycling, fisheries enhancement, and coastal protection. Critically, the cumulative cost of inaction, foregone ecosystem services at unrestored sites, exceeded total restoration investment within 11–42 years at every site, well within local government planning horizons. However, full cost-recovery timescales substantially exceed the 25-year timeframe of existing Australian carbon credit schemes, revealing a structural misalignment between current market mechanisms and restoration economics. These results provide empirical evidence that small-scale active coastal restoration delivers net economic benefits over multi-decadal timescales. Three priorities emerge: 1) adopting medium-intensity coverage to optimise cost against long-term service delivery, 2) developing local supply chains to reduce structure costs, and 3) reforming carbon crediting frameworks to recognise progressive ecosystem service accumulation in restored coastal wetlands.

• openalex https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2026.101888first seen 2026-08-02 05:33:23 · last seen 2026-08-02 05:33:56