Supporting public-private partnership for blue carbon investment – a global approach

Earth Security Group

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At a glance

By increasing private and public sector understanding of the importance of mangroves as a climate solution, this program will catalyze innovative finance models to invest in mangrove restoration and identify local sustainable models for conservation investments.

The partners

The Earth Security Group is a non-profit organization that provides leading research and analysis to foster the development of sustainable business models and finance partnerships.

The problem

Mangroves serve as nature's insurance policy against climate change and directly sustain the livelihoods of 120 million people in coastal communities.1  Lack of awareness of their importance, means they receive less attention than other threatened ecosystems.

Current restoration projects, with a few exceptions, are funded with a limited focus on how sustainable local economic models can sustain a conservation-driven economy over time. While non-profit organizations are seeking to develop a range of alternative finance models for conservation, the participation of the private sector remains very limited.

The solution

A challenge for integrating forests and oceans into global climate action agenda is the absence of financing partnerships that enable the private and finance sectors to invest in ‘blue carbon’ opportunities alongside public and citizen sectors, while ensuring that carbon off-setting goals also lead to long-term conservation and sustainable local development.

This program will address the above challenge by delivering:

  • A public-private partnership financing model, that provides the private and impact finance sectors with an opportunity to co-invest in a nature-based climate solution alongside public agencies and civil society; and
  • An impact framework for the future development of blue carbon projects that proposes a series of local sustainable economic models to be developed alongside carbon/climate and environmental conservation goals

 

The evidence

Research highlights there is a need to apply a range of financing schemes available today to nature-based solutions to incentivize new partnerships so opportunities for long-term, efficient and effective conservation projects can be created. Also, investment models that monetize the ecosystem services of mangroves to incentivize conservation, while considering the poverty-alleviation and local development dimensions are required.

The Impact

  • Opportunity for governments to further incorporate mangroves into countries' Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
  • Global companies are starting to consider mangroves as an important asset to deliver on their net-zero commitments. Increased awareness could stimulate further projects 

The Earth Security Group works towards SDGs:

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1 Mangrove Alliance (2020). Save our Mangroves now! BMZ, WWF and IUCN join forces to contribute to the existing global efforts to halt the decrease of mangrove habitats. Retrieved from: http://www.mangrovealliance.org/save-our-mangroves-now/#:~:text=Mangroves%20provide%20livelihoods%20for%20over,and%20other%20commercially%20relevant%20species. Last consulted: October 26, 2020.