Indonesia's 2026-2045 Blue Carbon Roadmap: AFD Backs Mangrove, Seagrass, and Salt Marsh Investment
ecobiz.asiaIndonesia's Bappenas has launched a 2026-2045 blue carbon roadmap with support from AFD. The plan covers mangroves, seagrass meadows, and tidal salt marshes, with a focus on cross-sector policy integration, sustainable financing, stronger MRV systems, and inclusive benefit-sharing. Indonesia has around 3.44 million hectares of mangroves, roughly 23 percent of the global total, with average carbon stocks near 1,000 tons of carbon per hectare. However, 38 percent of mangroves are degraded and losses run about 19,500 hectares per year, so the roadmap faces a real implementation gap. The roadmap builds on AFD's work since 2022, including the Blue Carbon Secretariat at Bappenas and improvements to carbon inventories and monitoring methods. The open question is whether this strategy can move into project-level finance. Investors will need credible monitoring, clear benefit-sharing rules, and a stable policy environment before blue carbon credits or conservation funding scale up across Indonesia's coastal ecosystems.