6.1. Conclusions
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION
Foça SEPA has been an MCPA since 1990 due to its diverse marine biodiversity, with the Mediterranean monk seals serving as an indicator of conservation concern, as well as its wide range of terrestrial cultural and natural features. The ecological processes that are taking place within the SEPA support important ecosystem services that contribute to the economic welfare of a range of beneficiaries, support local communities and Turkey’s GDP. This study focuses exclusively on the coastal and marine ecosystem services of the MCPA and estimates the total annual value of Foça SEPA to be around US$37 million per year (or 3.3% of Turkey’s $1.116 trillion GDP in 201019). This represents an initial valuation of the site, based, in some cases, on a number of assumptions and as a result needs to be refined through more in-depth studies. Shortcomings of the study include the lack of ecological and socio-economic data, as well as time and financial constraints to carry out more detailed valuation methods. The set of ecosystem services valued in this study includes provisioning services (mainly the fish resources), regulating services (carbon sequestration, erosion protection and waste treatment), and cultural services (tourism and recreation). The economic value pertaining to these services is very likely not to reflect the full value of the MCPA as conservative estimates have been used in determining the ecosystem services individually (ie. for the carbon sequestration of the Posidonia meadows or tourism and recreational uses of the site). A number of potentially important ecosystem services have been excluded from this analysis. Ecosystems services thought to be present (or potentially present) at the site which cannot be estimated due to a lack of scientific information and/ or data are – raw materials such as natural medicines, genetic resources and ornamental resources, which have yet to be studied at the site; the role the marine environment plays in micro-climate
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Based on World Bank’s statistics for Turkey in 2010 - http://siteresources. worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/GDP_PPP.pdf
The economic analysis of Foça Special Environmental Protection Area