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Mangrove planting in Myanmar

Myanmar · $57.14USD per tonne

This project restores and reforests a mangrove ecosystem in the Ayeyarwady region of Myanmar in Southeast Asia.

Mangroves are climate superheroes. They can sequester carbon at ten times the rate of mature tropical forests, help build coastal resilience, and provide critical habitat for hundreds of species. These ecosystems also build local food security by protecting agricultural lands from saltwater intrusion and providing habitat for fish, crabs, and other resources for local fishers.

Yet, Myanmar’s mangrove forests are at risk. In the Ayeyarwady Delta where this project is located, 72% of mangrove forests were lost between 1974 and 2021. This represents over 840 square miles. At this rate of deforestation, the region’s mangroves would vanish entirely by 2035. Such losses are globally significant – using remotely sensed data, scientists tracked mangrove forest cover loss and found that between 2000 and 2015, 75% of soil carbon loss caused by mangrove deforestation was attributable to just three countries: Myanmar, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Thankfully, this project works to reverse the trend by reforesting and restoring degraded mangrove ecosystems – removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while building local climate resilience and providing alternative and sustainable economic opportunities for local communities.

A community gathers to plant mangroves in Myanmar.

How does it work?

This project addresses the deforestation and degradation of these mangrove ecosystems by planting over 11 million new mangrove plants, restoring 4,500 hectares of land. Here is how it works:

1. Ground surveys and mapping: Our partners took care in designing the project, selecting suitable plots for planting, identifying flora and fauna species, and meeting with local communities dozens of times to ensure equitable local participation.

2. Securing land rights: While the land is owned by Myanmar’s Regional Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, our project partner, Worldview International Foundation, worked with local communities to develop five Village Tract Mangrove Conservation Committees in the villages of Chaungtha, Magyizin, Bawmi, Kyunhlargyi, and Thitphyu. The land is now governed under the country’s Forest Law which allows for community-based forest rights, meaning ownership of the land is collectively shared among all members of the local community.

3. Preparing maps and planting schedule: Once land rights were established, the project worked to demarcate land that needed to be entirely reforested and land that needed to be restored (there were a few trees left standing). A multi-year schedule was established to plan for when planting and restoration would occur.

4. Preparing seedlings for planting: Planting is an ongoing process. A year before the trees are planted, seeds are collected, propagated, and grown in a locally staffed nursery. The project's mangrove gene bank safeguards over 50 species of mangroves, some of which are on the IUCN's Red List of threatened species.

5. Planting the trees: Next, the young seedlings are placed in the ground. Locals are trained and employed to help with this process and local universities help oversee the operations.

6. Weeding and maintaining: The employees return to the site to replace any trees that were damaged in the planting process or were killed by crabs looking for their next meal.

7. Monitoring the growth and taking samples: Local environmental committees and researchers from local universities scientifically monitor the growing trees using boats, drones, and satellite observations.

Our project partner works alongside the local community to plant the mangrove trees. Locals are employed by the project, providing sustainable livelihoods.

Why this project?

We love this project for many reasons:

1. People-first approach: The project provides livelihood programs to the local community to ensure they can effectively serve as the long-term natural resource managers of the mangrove forests. The goal of these initiatives is to make community members active partners in the project and demonstrate to them the benefits of living trees. Helping the community move away from extractive livelihood activities, like charcoal production, is another component in ensuring project success. The project accomplishes this by focusing on four pillars:

2. Income generation: Low-income families in the project area have access to opportunities to increase their income. Female entrepreneurship programs help establish businesses cultivating oysters, producing coconut oil, and making other products they can bring to the market and earn an extra income.

3. Employment: The local community is directly employed by the project, establishing, maintaining, and monitoring the mangroves.

4. Capacity development: The project trains the local community in sustainable natural resource management and disaster risk reduction, and raises awareness of biodiversity and the importance of conservation. These programs help ensure the success of the project. For example, training in silviculture techniques increases the likelihood that the mangrove trees will survive.

5. Infrastructure: The project also repairs critical infrastructure in the local communities, helping to improve school buildings and establish flood control.

6. Biodiversity: Globally, over 1,500 species depend on mangroves for survival. Of these species, 341 are threatened by extinction. This project provides habitat for vulnerable species like the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus), the lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris), and the mangrove pitta (Pitta megarhyncha). The mangroves also provide critical habitats for a range of crabs, mollusks, fish, and other species that local communities rely on for food.

7. Carbon removal: The project will sequester an estimated 9.4 million tonnes of CO₂e over 20 years. Much of this carbon is stored in the soil, which is locked up as long as the mangrove forest remains undisturbed. Soil samples from this region of Myanmar showed that a single hectare of mangrove forests stores an average of 732.26 tonnes of carbon, which shows just how powerful mangroves are.

8. Climate resilience: Myanmar’s coastal communities are highly vulnerable to climate-driven extreme weather events like tropical storms and cyclones. For example, in 2008, Cyclone Nargis killed 140,000 people and displaced over 800,000. Thanks to complex root and branch systems, mangroves can prevent this kind of catastrophe by acting as a barrier to waves and storm surges, reducing wave height between 5% - 30%.

9. Scalable: The success of this project has led our project partner, Worldview International Foundation (WIF), to launch six additional mangrove restoration projects in Myanmar and Malaysia. Together with its partners, WIF established the first mangrove gene bank in Myanmar, allowing for greater research into mangrove species and the preservation of biodiversity. What’s more, WIF isn’t stopping in Myanmar. The organization has plans to expand its operations to other countries and continents.

WIF, in collaboration with Pathein University’s Marine Research Centre, established the first-ever mangrove gene bank in Myanmar.

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Where is the project located?

The project activities are implemented in three villages in the Pathein District of Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady Division. The activities take place in the villages of Chaungtha, Magyizin, Bawmi, Kyunhlargyi and Thitphyu. These villages are home to around 33,000 people. Many of the residents in these villages live below the poverty line, making the sustainable development initiatives associated with the project even more significant.

Who is behind this project?

This project is implemented by Worldview International Foundation in partnership with Pathein University. A global leader in blue carbon projects, WIF is an international non-governmental organization based in Yangon, Myanmar, working to restore and conserve mangrove ecosystems and support sustainable community development.

WIF works in close collaboration with research partners from Burmese universities and institutions, along with community conservation committees, to carry out project activities. To build self-reliance and local ownership of the project, in 2020, management was transferred to the community conservation committees and the University of Pathein, with WIF providing technical support.

How is the money spent?

Receipts and documents

We keep a public record of all payment receipts we've received from our project partners. You can browse the receipt ledger here.

A core part of this project is equitable benefit sharing with the local community, as it is critical to compensate local natural resource managers who are on the ground protecting, maintaining, and monitoring the forest ecosystem. This is why 30% of the total project budget is allocated for public education, social mobilization, livelihood creation, microloans, cottage industries, aquaculture, scholarships, distribution of solar lamps, subsidies for fuel-saving stoves, and gender equity initiatives. An additional 20% is set aside for the local community.

The other 50% of the funding goes to project management, research, the purchase of equipment such as drones and boats used for monitoring, and other fees required to successfully issue and sell carbon credits.

Mangrove's complex root systems protect coastlines from flooding.

How did we vet this project?

Wren vetted this project using our scorecard, which contains over 150 indicators. In addition, we leveraged expert insight from our partners at BeZero Carbon. Worldview International Foundation has maintained an excellent reputation for delivering high-quality carbon credits. This project ( VCS2088) is an extension of a similar project ( VCS1764) developed by Worldview International Foundation, also located in the Ayeyarwady Region. In February 2024, Wren purchased carbon credits from VCS1764 and subsequently sold out of all the volume available in October 2024. We are excited that in 2025, we have the opportunity to support Worldview International Foundation's new project, VCS2088, which builds on the successes of VCS1764. We are confident that the similarities in the project design and implementation between these two projects mean that the new project we are supporting meets the same level of quality.

In reviewing 2088, we found that the project is highly additionality because it relies heavily on carbon finance to fund ecosystem restoration efforts in a region where such practices are not common. The project does not generate revenue from timber or non-timber products and employs a range of supportive activities—such as education, subsidies, and livelihood creation—to ensure success. We found its carbon accounting is robust, with a credible baseline and sound carbon stock quantification. We consider the permanence of carbon storage to be high, thanks to strong community engagement and natural risk mitigation strategies.

Verification

This project adheres to the Clean Development Mechanism-approved methodology AR-AM0014 Afforestation and reforestation of degraded mangrove habitats version 3.0. In 2024, TÜV SÜD South Asia Pvt. Ltd. completed an independent audit of the project to verify and validate its impact. You can read the full validation reports here. This project will formally issue corresponding carbon credits in late 2025.

WIF’s Super Mangrove Planter, Mr. Win Maung, and WIF’s Youth Mangrove Ambassador, Miss Earth Baitong Jareerat, inside the successfully restored mangroves.

Project documents including registration certificates, audit reports, and annual reports can be found on Verra's website here.

Contact information

Ollie Bignell, Worldview International Foundation, ollie.bignell@wif.foundation

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If you have specific questions about Mangrove planting in Myanmar, our team is here to help answer them.