Resilient wetland communities
Prize, which will be used to drive mangrove restoration to enhance food security on the ground.
COASTS & DELTAS 2022
We advised the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) on strengthening safeguards for mangroves in its certification criteria, providing a basis for enhanced conservation and increased restoration of mangroves in shrimp farms that are or will be under ASC certification. Together with the Global Green Growth Institute, we secured a EUR 16 million contribution from the Government of Canada to bring mangroves back in the Kayan-Sembakung and Mahakam deltas in Indonesia. Ultimately we aim to restore the ecological integrity of at least 300,000 hectares of mangroves and associated ecosystems. Over 22,000 people benefitted from sustainable livelihood activities in mangrove areas in Africa. We provided them with training, materials for alternative income generating activities, improving value chains for their produce, and other measures. For example, our energy-efficient improved cook stoves programme in Matondoni, Kenya has decreased mangrove wood fuel consumption, improved heat retention, and reduced smoke. This initiative has brought tangible improvements to the lives of communities, contributing to a more sustainable and healthier environment. Building with Nature Asia seeks to leverage investment in Nature-Based Solutions to increase the resilience of 30 million vulnerable people in cities and settlements along vulnerable coasts and rivers by 2030 across the continent. Potential implementation projects have been explored in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and India to connect the regional platform with national initiatives. We have also developed a resource mobilisation strategy to raise €30-50 million for Building with Nature Asia and secure funding for the next phase of the program within a year. We published a Policy Paper ‘Voluntary Carbon Markets for Wetland Conservation and Restoration’ and used it in public consultations of emerging standards, leading to improved Race2Zero Criteria and High-Quality Blue Carbon Principles. These principles are used by investors such as Mirova and Climate Asset Management that have made significant pledges to invest in ‘natural capital’ including mangroves. Our Asia Times op-ed set the agenda for sustainable developmentin Manila Bay, calling for adherence to international Environmental Social Governance standards and for integration of nature in infrastructure designs. Since, we have helped public and private actors to put in place safeguards for maintaining biodiversity, we ensured community-based participative planning and identified opportunities for infrastructure and urban development that yield a net positive impact for communities. These efforts resulted in uptake of safeguards in the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Masterplan.
By 2030, we aim to integrate wetlands into 8 million hectares of coastal production systems.
Our goal is to safeguard and restore coastal wetland ecosystems as essential features of resilient and productive coastal landscapes. We will achieve our goal by tailoring our work to the different contexts we typically encounter in our target areas,ranging from heavily degraded or modified coastal areas to intact wetland landscapes.
We made major progress towards rehabilitating production landscapes and furthering ongoing dialogues with ASC and others.
We reached 143,000 coastal zone and natural resource management professionals, raising awareness about the contribution of mangroves to food security and opportunities for improving production systems (aquaculture, rice farming) through large-scale mangrove restoration. Building on this success, the GMA was awarded the USD 2 million Food Planet
Healthy wetlands
also led to increased reporting on mangrove status change by Ramsar signatories and actively used by blue carbon investors.
To further promote the use and value of GMW, we organised the first massive open online course attended by thousands of practitioners, as well as the first-ever in-person training for mangrove practitioners from the Western Indian Ocean region. Consequently, mangrove management is now informed by standardised and peer-reviewed global information on near real-time mangrove losses and gains and the drivers thereof. This enables targeted and efficient interventions and improved monitoring. We restored 850 hectares of mangroves using Ecological Mangrove Restoration in Guinea-Bissau, Tanzania, Kenya and Senegal, and mobilised others to restore a further 580 hectares. These cases encourage a paradigm shift from traditionally unsuccessful mass-planting approaches to more inclusive community-based restoration strategies than can be scaled up across coastal landscapes. In Senegal, we helped facilitate the development of a national mangrove management plan to support community-based restoration. We also developed sustainable management plans for coastal landscapes in The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania and Indonesia, working with government, NGOs and community groups. In total these plans cover over 400,000 hectares. We trained wetlands managers across the Yellow Sea on a science-based approach to monitoring and conservation. This will ultimately result in better management of 300,000 hectares of wetland sites critically important for migratory shore birds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.
Reduced climate risks
By 2030, we aim to safeguard 2 million hectares of high value coastal wetlands, including those sites which
make up vital wildlife migration corridors.
By 2030, we aim to mainstream Building with Nature and promote blue carbon solutions,
We made strong progress towards reaching our target of 2 million hectares. If we secure commitments under the GMA, we will move beyond our target in the next few years .
influencing €10 billion of investments in coastal infrastructure solutions.
Our efforts to mobilise Building with Nature Asia have slowed due to difficulties in recruitment for key roles in resource mobilisation.
Through the Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA) that we co-founded and in collaboration with the UN Climate Change High-level Champions, we launched the Mangrove Breakthrough at UNFCCC COP27. The Breakthrough calls for a unified global approach towards mangrove conservation aiming to leverage USD 4 billion to secure the future of 15 million hectares of mangroves globally by 2030. The Mangrove Breakthrough was informed and inspired by our State of the World’s Mangroves reports, based on data from the Global Mangrove Watch (GMW) platform. The reports and GMW are key elements in our upscaling strategy and have
The UN recognised our Building with Nature Indonesia initiative to protect Indonesia’s coast against flooding as one of 10 inaugural World Restoration Flagships. Building on this flagship example, Wetlands International is promoting uptake of the approach in Indonesia, Philippines, India, Malaysia and China, and other countries over time, in collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, EcoShape and One Architecture.
Wetlands International Annual Review 2022
Wetlands International Annual Review 2022
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