The five-day Economic Tools for Conservation of Mangroves in Protected Areas course was held at the Center for Research and Conservation of Northeast Marine Biodiversity (CEPENE), located in the city of Tamandaré, in Pernambuco state, in northeastern Brazil.
It was attended by twenty-five members of the Chico Mendes Institute for Conservation of Biodiversity (ICMBio), responsible for managing protected areas with mangroves from ten states in Brazil.
The course consisted of lectures, plenary discussions, group exercises and fieldwork. Basic concepts of microeconomics and economics of natural resources were addresses, followed by discussions related to market failures and ecosystem services. Then the methods of economic valuation of ecosystem services were covered and the participants had the chance to put their new knowledge into practice via an exercise in the field, valuing the ecosystem services of mangroves at the famous beach, Praia dos Carneiros. The course went on to cover financial sustainability of protected areas with mangroves, and concluded by addressing issues such as payments for environmental services and economic instruments for conservation of mangroves.
