Mitigation and adaptation through conservation and sustainable livelihoods in Indonesia's peat and mangrove ecosystems

Peat and mangrove ecosystems offer ecosystem services to communities in Indonesia in the form of coastal protection, flood water retention, water quality and food security. The project is supporting the widespread retention and effective management of peat and mangrove ecosystems in West Papua and North Sumatra. This will increase the resilience of communities and biodiversity most threatened by the impacts of climate change. The project is based on sustainable economic solutions such as shrimp fishing, non-wood products and the agricultural use of raised bogs and fens, which simultaneously help to establish alternative livelihoods for inhabitants. By avoiding the deforestation of 20,000 hectares of mangrove forests and 60,000 hectares of peat forests during its lifetime, the project is helping to save around 30 million tonnes of CO2. Overall, around 10,000 people in the areas targeted by the project are benefitting from the new sources of income created by the sustainable use of peat and mangrove ecosystems.