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Investment in coastal wetland restoration yields high returns in blue carbon and ecosystem services in China

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Abstract

China’s coastal wetland degradation and loss threaten critical climate mitigation and ecosystem services. While substantial restoration investments, the economic rationale for these efforts remains poorly understood. Here we address this gap through a comprehensive data synthesis of 237 coastal wetland restoration projects (2000-2020) across China, totaling US$8.87–13.8 billion in investment. This analysis provides a 30-year cost-benefit assessment for restored salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrass beds. Our study reveals considerable returns on these restoration projects, with an estimated blue carbon gain of 8.50 ± 3.76 million tons and an enhancement of ecosystem service value by US$95.9–434 billion. Benefit-cost ratios of Chinese coastal wetland restoration ranged from 7.01 to 18.8 for salt marshes, 15.5 to 47.0 for mangroves, and 16.3 to 43.7 for seagrass beds. Despite uncertainties in monetary valuation, our ecological and economic findings support integrating coastal wetland restoration into national climate strategies and coastal spatial plans.

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Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and its Supplementary Data file. Additionally, the complete dataset can be accessed via the Figshare repository at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.31397403.v373 or in the institutional repository of South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science at https://doi.org/10.57841/casdc.000715574. Detailed descriptions of the tables are provided in the Description of Additional Supplementary Files file.

Code availability

This study did not generate or rely upon novel custom code or algorithms that are central to its conclusions. All calculations were derived from the equations presented in the Methods section using standard software tools (Microsoft Excel and R software 4.2.1). The analysis scripts used for data processing, standard calculations, and figure generation are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by National Key R&D Program of China (2023YFF1304500, 2023YFE0113100), the MOST Ocean Negative Carbon Emissions project (ONCE), the CAS Project for Young Scientists in Basic Research (YSBR-037), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42471067, U25A20797, U2106209), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2025A1515510021, 2023A1515010946), the CAS Youth Innovation Promotion Association (2021347), Hongkong RGC Strategic Topics Grant (STG2/P-604/25-R), Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai) (SML2024SP022, SML2024SP002) and Guangdong Science and Technology Plan Project (2023B1212060046, 2022B1111230001). This work is part of the European Union Horizon Europe collaborative project Carbon Sequestration in Blue Ecosystems (C-BLUES; project #101137844) under the Joint EU-China Flagship Initiative on Climate Change & Biodiversity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, Xiaoliang Research Station of Tropical Coastal Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, PR China

    Jinge Zhou, Jingfan Zhang, Guoming Qin, Lulu Zhang, Xingyun Huang, Ruyi Ding, Hua He, Yongxing Li, Yingwen Li & Faming Wang

  2. South China National Botanical Garden, Guangzhou, 510650, PR China

    Jinge Zhou, Jingfan Zhang, Guoming Qin, Lulu Zhang, Xingyun Huang, Ruyi Ding, Hua He, Yongxing Li, Yingwen Li & Faming Wang

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, PR China

    Jinge Zhou, Jingfan Zhang, Xingyun Huang, Ruyi Ding & Hua He

  4. Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, 519082, PR China

    Faming Wang

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  1. Jinge Zhou
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  2. Jingfan Zhang
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  3. Guoming Qin
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  4. Lulu Zhang
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  10. Faming Wang
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Contributions

Jinge Zhou collected the data and conducted the analysis. Jinge Zhou and Faming Wang prepared and wrote the initial draft. Jinge Zhou, Jingfan Zhang, and Faming Wang conceived and designed the study. Guoming Qin and Lulu Zhang validated the results and revised the manuscript. Xingyun Huang, Ruyi Ding, and Hua He assisted with the investigation and reviewed the final manuscript. Yongxing Li and Yingwen Li revised the manuscript. Faming Wang supervised the project, acquired funding, and finalized the manuscript.

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Faming Wang.

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Communications Earth and Environment thanks Laurence J. McCook and Zhen Zhang for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editors: Martina Grecequet. A peer review file is available.

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Supplementary Dataset 1 (download XLSX )

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Zhou, J., Zhang, J., Qin, G. et al. Investment in coastal wetland restoration yields high returns in blue carbon and ecosystem services in China.
Commun Earth Environ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03458-3

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