Mangrove Breakthrough

In news: Being launched at COP27 by the Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA) in collaboration with the UN Climate Change High-level Champions as a unified global approach towards mangrove conservation.

About Mangrove Breakthrough (MB):

• The Mangrove Breakthrough is a science-based, measurable, and achievable global initiative that provides a framework for public-private players to join forces through a coalition and strengthen their actions every year, in every sector and in scaling up investment in mangrove protection and restoration.
• It is built on the Breakthrough Agenda launched at COP26, and the Global Mangrove Alliance
• It is part of a set of Sharm El Sheikh Adaptation Agenda of the Marrakech Partnership Adaptation and Resilience Breakthroughs which collectively define global milestones and high-impact solutions to reduce climate risks, particularly in vulnerable communities, through adaptation action.
• Aim: To catalyse the financial support needed to scale proven solutions by working to channel finance to the ground through the Global Mangrove Alliance.
• It aims to secure the future of 15 million hectares of mangroves globally by 2030 through collective action on:

• Halting mangrove losses
• Restoring half of recent mangrove losses
• Doubling the protection of mangroves globally.
• Ensuring sustainable long-term finance for all existing mangroves by achieving an investment of 4 billion USD by 2030

• Current signatories to the breakthrough include Global Mangrove Alliance members, the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA), and Salesforce, among many others.

Significance of mangroves:

• Critical coastal ecosystems and are proven nature-based solutions to climate change.
• Provide food, extreme weather protection, and livelihoods, while harbouring incredible biodiversity, building coastal resilience, and acting as immense carbon sinks
• Stabilize shorelines and provide fish nurseries throughout tropical and warm temperate coasts.

About The Global Mangrove Alliance(GMA):

• Formed in 2018 by

• Conservation International (CI)
• the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
• The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
• Wetlands International
• World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

• This partnership now includes over 30 member organizations
• Aim of scaling up the recovery of mangroves through equitable and effective expansion of both mangrove protection and the restoration of former mangrove areas.
• The GMA works worldwide in supporting research, advocacy, education and practical projects on the ground with local and community partners.
• It is a world-wide collaboration between NGOs, governments, academics and communities working together towards a global vision for accelerating change and building a host of opportunities for coastal peoples and biodiversity around the planet.

Global Mangrove Watch (GMW):

• It is an online platform that provides the remote sensing data and real time information about changes and tools for monitoring mangroves across the world, and highlights why they are valuable.
• Established in 2011 under the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Kyoto & Carbon Initiative by Aberystwyth University, solo Earth Observation and the International Water Management Institute.
• Aims to provide open access geospatial information about mangrove extent and changes to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
• In collaboration with Wetlands International and with support from DOB Ecology, the first GMW baseline maps were released in 2018 at the Ramsar COP13.
• The GMW maps also constitute the official mangrove datasets used by UNEP for reporting on Sustainable Development Goal 6.6.1 (change in the extent of water-related ecosystems over time).

MUST READ Ramsar convention on wetlands

Source: IUCN org