Resilient coastlines for Asia

Summary:

Since 2004, Wetlands International has, in partnerships with various donors, governments and local communities, restored and conserved a large area of mangrove forests in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Those actions are particularly conducted in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand in the region aftermath the 2004 Tsunami. Currently, we focus on convincing and enabling authorities at all levels, the private sector and civil society to safeguard these important coastal forests.

The Problem 

Around 40% of the world's mangrove forests are located in Asia. These forests have long been the source of livelihood and coastal protection for the people in the region. Read more on mangrove values

Mangrove ecosystems are however rapidly being lost along the coast of the region. The main drivers of this are aquaculture/shrimp farming, dynamite fishing, urban development, pollution and over-harvesting of wood in coastal forests. The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami further exacerbated this condition and resulted in enormous loss of coastal areas and human lives (view the map).

Aims and Activities:

The awareness of the importance of mangroves in the region is increasing. Our work aims to contribute to the efforts and processes to achieve sustainable uses of mangroves. For this, we aim to bridge the gap between science, policy and practice. We collect science and practical knowledge and connect them to policy and practice. See the actions and some of our key publications on the right panel.

• We show how to restore degraded mangrove forests. After the tsunami of December 2004, we led a large-scale restoration project along the coasts of Aceh and Nias (Indonesia). In Sumatra and Java we showed how to work with local communities to restore mangrove forests using the 'bio-rights' microcredit scheme. Currently we are active in Flores, Indonesia.

•  An important element of our work on Mangroves is the promotion of a sustainable practice in shrimp farming through the 'silvofishery concept'. This concept combines the replanting of mangroves near and inside shrimp and fishponds. 

• We support the development and adoption of mangrove-based coastal defense strategies, among others by the assessment and promotion of hybrid-engineering to creating resilient coastlines. 

• We work to integrate ecosystem management and restoration (including mangroves) in disaster risk work. Disasters can be mitigated if we make sure ecosystems are as strong as they can be. 

• We strive for integration of mangroves into landscape level planning and sustainable production systems. For this we work closely with government agencies, private sector (including smallholders) and civil society.

• We explore incentives schemes for mangrove restoration and conservation, including the 'bio-rights' approach and capturing carbon values in aquaculture production systems.

Action Partners: 

The Netherlands-based knowledge institute on water issues, Deltares: development of new approaches for coastal defense through restoration of mangroves and sediment dynamics.

Wageningen University: studies on the economic values of different land-use scenarios in (former) mangrove areas.

The global NGO The Nature Conservancy: literature reviews on mangrove services.

The Indonesian government service BPDAS-PB of the Ministry of Forestry: to coordinate the engagement of government agencies in data gathering, fieldwork and policy dialogues.

The Indonesian Government Centre for Marine Resource Survey: detailed mapping of mangrove status and distribution in Indonesia.

The Netherlands Red Cross

Red Cross Reed Crescent Climate Centre

Oxfam Novib

Cordaid

CARE Netherlands 

We are amongst others supported by:

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs