Incorporating the values of the services that ecosystems provide into decision making is
becoming increasingly common in nature conservation and resource management policies,
both locally and globally. Yet with limited funds for conservation of threatened species and
ecosystems there is a desire to identify priority areas where investment efficiently conserves
multiple ecosystem services. We mapped four mangrove ecosystems services
(coastal protection, fisheries, biodiversity, and carbon storage) across Fiji. Using a costeffectiveness
analysis, we prioritised mangrove areas for each service, where the effectiveness
was a function of the benefits provided to the local communities, and the costs were
associated with restricting specific uses of mangroves. We demonstrate that, although priority
mangrove areas (top 20%) for each service can be managed at relatively low opportunity
costs (ranging from 4.5 to 11.3% of overall opportunity costs), prioritising for a single service
yields relatively low co-benefits due to limited geographical overlap with priority areas for
other services. None-the-less, prioritisation of mangrove areas provides greater overlap of
benefits than if sites were selected randomly for most ecosystem services. We discuss deficiencies
in the mapping of ecosystems services in data poor regions and how this may
impact upon the equity of managing mangroves for particular services across the urbanrural
divide in developing countries. Finally we discuss how our maps may aid decisionmakers
to direct funding for mangrove management from various sources to localities that
best meet funding objectives, as well as how this knowledge can aid in creating a national
mangrove zoning scheme.