Myanmar Mangroves

ABOUT

Only 16% of the original mangrove forest remains on the Myanmar coastline. Human activities have led the destruction of the mangrove forests. Often cut down for use as firewood or for clearing the way for farming rice, palm oil, or shrimp. The destruction and deforestation has devastated the blue carbon ecosystem and has destroyed the very resource that protects and nourishes communities. This project is working to restore those forests. Mangrove forests have immense benefits. They help stabilize the coastline, reduce erosion, provide protection from storms, and are home to fish, birds and plants. Mangroves store as much as four times the carbon stored in inland forests. So when we lose mangroves, the climate suffers directly. 5 million new mangrove trees have been planted with hopes of planting another 5 million trees in the next two years. The project also works with the local communities to adapt to more sustainable practices and help conservation efforts.

IMPACT

184,000

metric tons of carbon captured per year

5 million

new mangrove trees have been planted already

BENEFITS

• This project teaches local citizens a new way to ensure a sustainable livelihood and how to utilize the resources from the healthy mangroves rather than destroy them for wood.
• Communities are invested in mutual benefit and long-term sustainability, when the mangroves are healthy they can provide fish populations the opportunity to recover, shrimp and crab return in numbers, and plants grow naturally in the forests. All of these can be sustainably harvested for food or as crops for sale.
• Ecotourism is in harmony with the natural landscapes, seascapes and local lifestyles. This also brings jobs and revenue to the local communities.
• Conservation of biodiversity, endemic endangered flora, wildlife and coral reefs in adaptation to climate change.

PHOTOS

VERIFICATIONS

Founded in 2005, Verra is a global leader helping tackle the world’s most intractable environmental and social challenges by developing and managing standards that help the private sector, countries, and civil society achieve ambitious sustainable development and climate action goals. Verra’s global standards and frameworks serve as linchpins for channeling finance towards high-impact activities that tackle some of the most pressing environmental issues of our day.