Integrating Ecosystem Services into a Prioritization Model for Surf Protected Areas

This project evaluated potential and priority locations for the
establishment of Surf Protected Areas (SPAs) along the entire coastline of
Brazil. To conduct this assessment, we 1) assessed the quality of
Brazilian surf breaks using the established Surf Conservation Index (SCI)
developed by the Save the Waves, a member of the Surf Conservation
Partnership (SCP), and 2) expanded the SCI with the addition of two key
ecosystem service assessments for mangrove carbon storage and coastal
protection. This assessment created a list of top surf spots for priority
conservation based on a ranking system including aspects such as wave
quality, biodiversity, social, and economic significance. The addition of
the ecosystem service assessment suggests that surf ecosystems in Brazil
provide significant carbon storage and coastal protection and changed
which sites were considered the highest priority for conservation. This
result has significant implications for the management of surf resources.
Additionally, we conducted a review of existing surf conservation projects
to distill good practices in the field of surf conservation and
management. Surfing will likely continue to be leveraged as a vehicle for
conservation in the future; understanding broader implications of this
work and developing clear guidelines is key for scaling up programs like
the SCP.