Utilizing ecosystem services to support restorative marine economies

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A restorative economy is a melding of environmental restoration and business activities, with interactions and feedbacks that contribute positively to society through enhancing multiple social, cultural, environmental, and financial well-beings. Ecosystem services, which can be used to document and quantify the benefits of healthy functioning ecosystems, are likely to be crucial to the success of restorative economies in the scoping and planning phases, and as metrics of success while projects are underway. Describing and quantifying whole “bundles of benefits” delivered by healthy intact ecosystems will help to draw attention to the value of conservation and restoration. Restorative economies focused on single “tradable” services such as carbon sequestration may be problematic in the marine environment given that our oceans are “commons” without clear definitions of ownership. In this article, we focus on the role of ecosystem services in restorative marine economies, with examples from Aotearoa New Zealand where indigenous cultural values and rights are at the forefront of marine conservation and restoration. To reduce investment risk and secure financing for restorative economies, better quantification of ecosystem services and the development of multiple well-beings frameworks (encompassing social, ecological, cultural, and financial benefits to communities) will likely be required. This will also promote effective communication and monitoring of the multiple benefits obtained from restored ecosystems, which will ultimately serve to sustain and expand restorative economy endeavours.