In this dissertation, I argue how blue carbon narratives associated with mangrove ecosystems intersect with local communities’ realities, values, and priorities. I examine the trade-offs associated with the climate change mitigation potential of mangrove habitats and their vulnerability to climate change impacts using Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary as a case study. Each of the chapters look at different themes associated with blue carbon—forest degradation, ecosystems services and values, and resource access/exclusion to understand the trade-offs associated with blue carbon policies. First, I use an ecological lens to understand how mangrove ecosystems respond to large and small-scale disturbances like tropical storms and fuelwood harvesting. Second, I use the concept of reciprocity to understand how conservation values and priorities are impacted by the lack of access/exclusion from protected areas using Q-methodology. I also compare this value discourse using sentiment analyses and content analysis of Twitter data to understand the disconnect between global and local values towards mangrove conservation. Similarly, using the theory of access, I elaborate on the different mechanisms that perpetuate forest dependence. Finally, I use an agent-based model to determine how mangrove-human interactions, intersect with the interactive impact of disturbances on mangrove blue carbon. The findings reveal an overall increase in mangrove productivity from storm induced freshwater and nutrient inputs while harvesting decreases mangrove forest biomass. However, local communities prefer smaller diameter species as fuelwood, sparing and thus conserving larger diameter mangrove trees. Similarly, local and extra-local actors’ priorities converge on storm protection services whereas protected area exclusion has resulted in the dwindling acknowledgement towards provisioning services, implying the slow disconnect between mangrove-human relationships. Similarly, lack of access has also resulted in the increased feminization of forest relations. Through this dissertation, using an interdisciplinary and plural worldview towards blue carbon sustainability and the conservation value nexus, I question the many assumptions surrounding blue carbon conservation schemes. I argue that effective and just conservation outcomes in mangrove ecosystems necessitate understanding systems holistically, particularly by incorporating voices and lived realities of marginalized communities, embedding socio-economic empowerment in plans, and investing in long term ethnoecological research for managing future uncertainties.