- The total economic value of mangroves in GHRD was assessed based on use and non-use values from local coastal communities (Fig. 1, 331)
- Direct use: fisheries, mariculture (aquaculture), aquatic trade, pharmaceuticals, tourism/recreation, research/education, aesthetic, biological support to organisms, storm surge protection to coastal ecosystems, and carbon sequestration.
- Non-use: endangered and charismatic species habitat, threatened mangrove habitat, and traditional use of habitat by local peoples (i.e. spiritual practices)
- The above factors took into account the following ecosystem services and ranked them from “high - low” based on types of economic value (Table 2, 333):
- High: wildlife resources, fisheries, flood and flow control, sediment retention, water quality maintenance, storm protection/wave breaker, micro-climate stabilization, recreation/tourism, and biological diversity.
- Medium: forest resources, forage resources, groundwater discharge, shoreline stabilization, nutrient retention, external support, uniqueness to culture/heritage.
- Low: water supply
- The total economic value of GHRD mangroves is estimated between 10,000 – 20,000 US$/ha/yr (332).
- Ecological uses of GHRD mangroves is given:
- “Filtering system for run-off from the guts by root systems,
- “The coastline protection from soil erosion by acting as wave breaks and mechanical structure seaward side against torrential storms,
- “Control of pollution, naturally by filtering out industrial and human waste,
- “Providing food, nesting and nursery areas for organisms, and
- “To improves the water quality by trap debris, sediments, excess nutrients and toxicants through their natural filtering processes”(332).
- Based on information gathered from the bird-conservation study within GHRD, “GHRD mangrove forest Hara protected mangrove forest area could be one of the `megadiversity’ places not only in Iran but also in the Middle East” (333).
- Sources of threats to GHRD mangroves are as follows:
- Lack of basic information regarding Iranian mangrove ecosystems (333)
- Increasing human population density in coastal zones/coastal development (334)
- Overuse (334)
- Lack of tools for mangrove economic evaluation (334)
- Goals for GHRD include: increasing public awareness of mangrove forest protection and connecting communities with NGOs or the government to implement mangrove protection programs to ultimately “involve communities in direct management of biodiversity in mangrove resources”(335).