Leveraging Opportunities for Mangrove Conservation and Restoration to Meet National and Global Priorities

Mangrove forest ecosystems are some of the most productive ecosystems on earth and their fate directly impacts the coastal communities living around or behind them. They play a major role in climate mitigation, coastal protection, and fisheries provisions. Thus, there is a strong argument at the global, national and local scale for conserving and restoring mangroves.

This event will elaborate on the multiple benefits mangroves can have on fisheries, local livelihoods, coastal protection and climate change mitigation and adaptation, and biodiversity. It will also identify gaps and opportunities in funding and technical support that can be jointly addressed by governments, private sector, donors, and NGOs.

Carter Roberts, President, WWF-US; T.P. Singh, Deputy Regional Director of Asia Regional Office, IUCN; Jen Morris, President, Conservation International; Leah Karrer, GEF Secretariat; Claudio Maretti, Director of Chico Mendes Institute, Ministry of the Environment, Brazil; Le Hoang Anh, Department of Science Technology and Environment, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam; Paul Oliver Ralison, Director General of Ecology, Minister of Environment, Ecology and Forest, Madagascar; Kordula Mehlhart, Head of Division, Climate Financing, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany/BMZ.

The Global Mangrove Alliance will be introduced and will highlight ways to engage and partner in their restoration and conservation global goals. And finally, the panel will zero in on solutions that each type of agency and organization can enact after the event.