Restored Oyster Reefs Could Deliver $12 Trillion in Ecosystem Services

A new study in Frontiers in Marine Science estimates that fully restored and protected oyster reefs could generate up to $12 trillion in ecosystem services each year. The research calculates a global gross ecosystem product (GEP)—an ecological analogue to gross economic product—for oyster reefs across the world’s “most promising” ten countries. The authors argue the figure highlights a resource that remains vastly underestimated as coastal ecosystems face intensified pressure from overexploitation, pollution, and climate change. They also note that about 85% of oyster reefs have been lost over the past century, especially in estuaries and river deltas. Led by Dr Matteo Convertino of Tsinghua University, the team used geotagged databases and machine learning habitat suitability thresholds to map where restoration could work.