Jacob J Bukoski, Scott R Atkinson, Marissa Anne S. Miller, Diego A. Sancho-Gallegos, Mara Arroyo, Kellee Koenig, Dan R. Reineman, John N Kittinger

Surf breaks are increasingly recognized as socio-environmental phenomena that provide opportunities for biodiversity conservation and sustained benefits for local communities. Here, we examine an additional benefit from conserving surf breaks—their coincidence with carbon dense coastal ecosystems. Using global spatial datasets of irrecoverable carbon (defined as carbon stocks that, if lost today, could not be recovered within 30 years’ time), surf break locations, ecosystem types, protected areas, and priority areas for conservation (Key Biodiversity Areas), we identified 961 million Mg of irrecoverable carbon held in surf ecosystems. Of this total, 223 million Mg are found in Key Biodiversity Areas without formal measures of protection. These results highlight surf conservation as a potential avenue to simultaneously mitigate climate change, protect biodiversity, and promote sustainable development in coastal communities. Innovative and equitable conservation models that extend beyond excluding humans from nature will be critical to achieving these goals.