New research from James Cook University finds that the rush to develop blue carbon projects in mangroves and coastal wetlands may threaten the tenure rights of coastal communities, small-scale fishers, and Indigenous Peoples. The study analyzed 122 global guidance documents and found major gaps in how community and customary land rights are recognized. Current guidance often assumes rights must be proven through Western-style title deeds, ignoring customary arrangements. Six core international tenure obligations are mostly absent from blue carbon guidance, raising concerns that social safeguards are not keeping pace with investor interest from the Global North. The researchers warn that without realignment to human rights standards, blue carbon risks repeating the dispossession seen in earlier carbon market failures.
