Indonesia Mangrove Reforestation Project

Mangroves sequester three to five times the amount of carbon as tropical forests. Indonesia is home to over 20% of the world’s mangroves. In the last three decades, roughly 40% of Indonesia’s mangroves have been lost due to shrimp and fish aquaculture, leaving many former shrimp ponds abandoned and local communities with little access to economic opportunities. The North Sumatra region has lost 60% of its pristine mangroves due to aquaculture, putting coastal resilience, biodiversity, and wildlife habitats at enormous risk.

This project supports gender-equitable employment, ecosystem services payment to local communities, ecotourism business development, and a pilot program for locals to implement silvofisheries- a form of sustainable aquaculture that integrates planting and maintenance and protection of mangrove forests in aquaculture ponds.