Coastal wetlands provide a range of valuable ecosystem services, including protecting coastal communities from storms. We estimated for the first time the global value of these storm protection services for all coastal wetlands for both damages avoided and lives saved. We used the historical tracks of 1,014 tropical cyclones since 1902 that recorded property damage and/or human casualties in 71 countries/regions. We used Bayesian and OLS statistical techniques to relate storm damages and lives lost to: wind speed, storm forward speed, the year of the storm, the volume of ocean water proximal to landfall, and GDP, population, and coastal wetlands in the swath of the storm. Based on current storm probabilities, we estimate the median annual global value of coastal wetlands for storm protection at $447 billion/yr (2015$US) ($213 - $837 billion/yr, 90% CI) and 4,620 lives saved per year (3,320 – 6,550, 90% CI). The 40 million hectares of coastal wetlands in storm prone areas provided an average of $11,000/ha/yr in avoided storm damages. The frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones has been increasing in recent decades and is projected to further increase with climate change. Consequently, the already significant benefits from protecting and restoring coastal wetlands will become increasingly important and valuable in the future. These results justify much larger investments in conservation and restoration of coastal wetlands.

沿海湿地提供了一系列有价值的生态系统服务，包括保护沿海社区免受风暴影响。我们首次估算了这些风暴保护服务对所有沿海湿地避免的损害和挽救生命的全球价值。我们使用了自 1902 年以来在 71 个国家/地区记录了财产损失和/或人员伤亡的 1,014 次热带气旋的历史轨迹。我们使用贝叶斯和 OLS 统计技术将风暴损害和生命损失与以下因素相关联：风速、风暴前进速度、风暴年份、接近登陆的海水量以及 GDP、人口和沿海湿地风暴。根据当前的风暴概率，我们估计沿海湿地用于风暴保护的全球年度价值中位数为 4470 亿美元/年（2015 年美元）（213 - 8370 亿美元/年，90% CI）和每年挽救 4,620 条生命（3,320 – 6,550，90% CI）。风暴易发地区的 4000 万公顷沿海湿地提供了平均 11,000 美元/公顷/年的避免风暴损害。近几十年来，热带气旋的频率和强度一直在增加，预计会随着气候变化而进一步增加。因此，保护​​和恢复沿海湿地本已显着的好处在未来将变得越来越重要和有价值。这些结果证明对沿海湿地保护和恢复进行更大的投资是合理的。近几十年来，热带气旋的频率和强度一直在增加，预计会随着气候变化而进一步增加。因此，保护​​和恢复沿海湿地本已显着的好处在未来将变得越来越重要和有价值。这些结果证明对沿海湿地保护和恢复进行更大的投资是合理的。近几十年来，热带气旋的频率和强度一直在增加，预计会随着气候变化而进一步增加。因此，保护​​和恢复沿海湿地本已显着的好处在未来将变得越来越重要和有价值。这些结果证明对沿海湿地保护和恢复进行更大的投资是合理的。