Mangroves are recognized as a provider of a variety of products and essential\necosystem services that contribute significantly to the livelihood of local communities.\nHowever, over the past decades, mangroves in many tropical areas including the Takalar\ndistrict, South Sulawesi have degraded and decreased mainly due to conversion to\naquaculture. Currently, little is known about the economic benefits of commercialization of\naquaculture as compared to those derived from mangroves in the form of products and\nservices. Here, we estimate the Total Economic Value (TEV) of mangrove benefits in order\nto compare it with the benefit value of commercial aquaculture. Market prices, replacement\ncosts, benefit transfer value and Cost-Benefit Analyses (CBA) have been used for value\ndetermination and comparison. The results show that the per year TEV of mangroves in the\nstudy area (Takalar district, South Sulawesi) was in the range of 4370 thousands USD\n(kUSD) to 10,597 kUSD or 4 kUSD to 8 kUSD per hectare (the highest value contribution\nderived from the indirect use value (94%)), whereas commercial aquaculture had a net\nbenefit value of 228 kUSD or 3 kUSD per hectare. In addition, the comparison of Net Present\nValue (NPV) between the benefit value of mangroves and that of commercial aquaculture\nrevealed that conversion of mangroves into commercial aquaculture was not economically beneficial when the analysis was expanded to cover the costs of environmental and\nforest rehabilitation.
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