Work

Natural Capital Accounting for Mediterranean Seagrass Restoration Across Pilot Sites

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Mediterranean seagrass meadows, particularly Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa, are among the most ecologically significant marine habitats in Europe. They provide multiple ecosystem services, including long-term carbon sequestration, biodiversity maintenance, sediment stabilisation, coastal protection, water quality regulation and nursery habitat provision. Despite their ecological and socio-economic relevance, these ecosystems continue to decline under the combined pressure of coastal development, anchoring, eutrophication, aquaculture impacts, sedimentation and climate change. Their degradation represents not only an ecological loss, but also a depreciation of natural capital that remains largely invisible in conventional economic and financial accounts.This article presents a Natural Capital Accounting framework for Mediterranean seagrass restoration developed within the INTERREG EuroMed ARTEMIS project and applied to four pilot sites: Atzikiari Bay in Crete, Cala Blanca in Menorca, Capo Testa-Punta Falcone in Sardinia, and the Bay of Panzano in Monfalcone. The framework is aligned with the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting - Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA; United Nations et al., 2021) and integrates elements of Corporate Natural Capital Accounting. It compiles ecosystem extent and condition accounts, physical and monetary ecosystem service flow accounts, Impact Statement accounts, and Natural Capital Balance Sheets for each pilot site. Two ecosystem services are valued: Global Climate Regulation, through blue carbon sequestration and storage, and Biodiversity Preservation, through a defensive cost approach.Results show substantial site-specific variation in natural capital values. Biodiversity Preservation dominates total asset values across all sites, while Blue Carbon is particularly relevant in Sardinia because of its exceptional carbon stock and accumulation rate. A passive restoration scenario developed for Sardinia shows much larger aggregate values, demonstrating the strategic importance of pressure reduction and eco-mooring infrastructure at landscape scale.The findings demonstrate that seagrass restoration should be understood not only as an ecological intervention, but also as an investment in measurable natural capital. The proposed framework provides a replicable basis for marine ecosystem accounting, nature-positive investment, seagrass credit development, and policy implementation under the EU Nature Restoration Regulation and related sustainability reporting frameworks. It also contributes to the process initiated by the European Commission through the Nature Credits Roadmap, particularly with regard to measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), natural capital accounting integration, and the definition of transparent price signals in emerging nature markets.

Source: Sustainability

DOI: 10.3390/su18179104