A new report by the Save Our Mangroves Now! initiative, co-led by WWF-Germany and IUCN and supported by BMZ, provides guidance on making mangrove restoration and conservation investments more sustainable and impactful.
As part of the study, the authors looked at the common successes and challenges linked to mangrove restoration and conservation, along with the business case for private sector to engage in such efforts.
Mangroves provide valuable ecosystem services estimated to be worth thousands to tens of thousands of USD per hectare, and play an important role in climate change mitigation and adaptation, not to mention climate restoration.
Investing in mangroves can deliver a number of environmental and social benefits. This is of great interest to governments wanting to reduce coastal damage and impact investors wanting to ‘do good’ while earning economic returns.
Save Our Mangroves Now! focuses on three fields of action:
- Embedding ambitious objectives on mangrove protection and restoration in international and national political agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the Aichi targets and the Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement increasing awareness among decision makers about the importance of mangrove conservation as part of the global conservation, sustainable development and climate solutions;
- Pooling leading expertise, enhancing knowledge-sharing and closing existing knowledge gaps on mangrove conservation and restoration; and
- Supporting innovative lighthouse projects, fostering the dissemination of best practices and mainstreaming of mangrove conservation into national development plans in the Western Indian Ocean.