Summary and Key Messages
Mangrove restoration has significant natural climate solution, as mangroves and other terrestrial and coastal ecosystems are an important sink and natural tool for climate mitigation. Adaptation is another contribution to the climate solution that mangrove ecosystems play in their communities. Mangrove restoration is considered a win-win investment, providing mitigation and adaptation solutions to climate change while also supporting the implementation of other international pledges and agreements for the SDG Agenda 2030.
Blue carbon of mangroves opens up opportunities in capitalizing the carbon capture and storage to gain economic incentives as well as expediting countries with mangroves to achieve NDC targets for mitigation commitment to the Paris Agreement. Capitalizing on blue carbon will generate the required revenues to enable business endeavours in mangrove conservation and restoration as well as the revenues from the non-carbon benefits of the improved mangrove habitats.
The design of blue carbon pricing systems is important to ensure they provide strong and long-lived investment incentives and are effective at driving emissions reductions and mangroves protection and sustainable management. Effective blue carbon pricing requires well-designed systems that drive deep economic and business transformation. Complementary policy measures are necessary, for example to incentivise innovation, build up social-economy safety net and overcome behavioural barriers.
Transformation of business process from traditional, grant-funded project to income generating business type of restoration by capitalizing blue carbon is crucial to remove the barriers and time-limitations of traditional funding, and allows the business to become self-sustainable, providing more stability and the opportunity to make a bigger impact for mangrove conservation and restoration.