WP 2

The goal of this WP is to estimate the economic value of relevant mangrove ES at sites identified in T1.5. An ecological and socioeconomic characterization of those ES is required to inform the valuation studies. The ecological characterization consists of analyzing flora and fauna structures (T2.1), while a socioeconomic characterization (T2.2) calls for the identification of the key mangrove ES to local communities and to what extent they depend upon them. Current and future human uses as potential threats to conservation, as well as information about local knowledge on mangroves ecology, conservation practices, and perceptions of change will be part of the micro-data to be collected by surveying the households/communities on preferences and demand for those ES. Therefore, surveys development, pre-testing and fine-tuning at each site will be undertaken (T2.3), after which the final site-specific households/communities surveys can be conducted (T2.4). Once the collection of data is complete, economic values will be estimated using econometric methods (T2.5).