Launched at COP27, Seeks to Reduce Carbon; All About Mangrove Alliance for Climate Launched in Alliance with India | Explained

At the ongoing 27th session Conference of Parties (COP27), Mangrove Alliance for Climate (MAC) was launched in partnership with India and four other nations, to meet the goal towards carbon sinking by restoring mangrove plantations.

The move will see India collaborating with Sri Lanka, Indonesia and other countries to preserve and restore the mangrove forests in the region.

The Mangrove Alliance for Climate summit was attended by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, among others, who said that India has demonstrated expertise in mangrove restoration for five decades and can contribute to the global knowledge base due to its extensive experience.

He also said that said India is home to the Sundarbans- which is one of the largest remaining areas of mangroves in the world and the country also has expertise in restoration of mangrove cover that can be used to aid global measures.

Mangrove Alliance for Climate

Mangrove Alliance for Climate (MAC) is an intergovernmental alliance that seeks to expand and hasten the progress towards conservation and restoration of mangrove ecosystems.

The five countries which have joined MAC are India, Australia, Japan, Spain, and Sri Lanka. The alliance will raise global awareness about the role of mangroves as a nature-based climate change solution and will ensure the rehabilitation of mangrove forests a global level.

As per the initiative, UAE would launch three million mangroves in the next two months, keeping in mind its COP26 pledge of planting 100 million mangroves by 2030.

India and MAC

India is among the first countries to join the Mangrove Alliance for Climate, keeping its promise to increase carbon sink.

Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said mangroves were the best option to fight the consequences of climate change and can help countries meet their nationally determined contributions. NDCs are national plans to limit global temperature rise to well below two degrees Celsius, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

As part of its NDCs, India has committed to creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

With notable adaptive features, mangroves are natural armed forces of tropical and subtropical nations. They are the best option to fight against consequences of climate change such as sea level rise and increasing frequency of natural calamities like cyclones and storm surges, Yadav said.

Powerful Impact

Mangroves also have a powerful impact in combating climate change. Mangroves are distributed in the tropical and sub-tropical region of the world and are found in 123 countries.

The resilient trees “punch above their weight” absorbing five times more carbon than forests on land, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

The stands of trees also help filter out water pollution and act as a natural barrier against rising seas and extreme weather, shielding coastal communities from destructive storms.

UNEP calculates that protecting mangroves is a thousand times cheaper than building seawalls over the same distance.

Despite their value, mangroves have been annihilated worldwide at rapid speed. Over a third of mangroves globally have been lost globally, researchers estimate, with losses up to 80 percent in some coastlines of the Indian Ocean. Eighty per cent of the global fish populations depend on mangrove ecosystems.

Mangrove expert Niko Howai, from Britain’s University of Reading, said in the past many governments had not appreciated “the importance of mangroves”, eyeing instead lucrative “opportunities to earn revenue” including through coastal development.

The UN climate summit this year is being held in the shadow of the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the related energy crisis, which has strained the capabilities of countries to urgently tackle climate change.

At this year’s climate summit, developed countries are expected to push developing nations to further intensify their climate plans.

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