News archive

The global collaboration between the Global Environment Facility, UN Environment, GRID-Arendal and partners has proven valuable in helping nations realize the climate change adaptation and mitigation benefits from the protection and restoration of coastal and marine...

19 March 1911, marked the first International Women’s Day where over one million women and men demanded equal rights for women to vote and hold public office without discrimination on the job. During the years of World War I, celebration of this day had been in a form...

The new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sets the roadmap for integrated management approaches of natural systems, through the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs), including oceans and coasts, the focus of Goal 14. The SDGs have been developed as a means to...

GRID-Arendal helps draw attention to importance of coastal 'blue carbon' ecosystemsMarrakesh -- Mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses are being highlighted at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting now underway in...

The concept of 'blue carbon' has been widely recognised and accepted as a concept that can potentially assist in nations' climate change mitigation measures. As in the COP21 in Paris, 'blue carbon' will be a key focus for plenty of events...

In historic agreement, nations recognize the role of whales as ecosystem engineers helping to address the global climate challenge.Arendal, Norway, November 1, 2016 - Protecting whale populations has an important role to play in fighting global warming.This was the...

In Senegal and other developing countries, multinational companies are investing in programs to restore mangrove forests and other wetlands that sequester carbon. But critics say these initiatives should not focus on global climate goals at the expense of the local...

GAZI BAY, Kenya, Sept 27 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - For fishing communities on Kenya's southern coast, felling mangrove trees to make boats has long been a part of life.But traditional attitudes toward the mangroves are shifting, as communities become aware...

Mangroves forests across the globe host myriads of species that live and thrive along the coastal ecosystems. One of them is the dugong. Our project partner in Abu Dhabi, Jane Glavan, tells us more of these magnificent creatures.The forefathers of UAE owed their...

Mikoko Pamoja, a co-finance project of the Blue Forests Project recently provided community based mangrove carbon offsetting for the travel and organization of the International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC4). Mikoko Pamoja is being replicated and up-scaled in...

This week we feature a update from our project partner in Conservation International Ecuador, Belén Vallejo, Communication Coordinator.Given the importance of mangroves for sustainable development and particularly for CI Ecuador's work, July 26 - recently...

This is an update from our project partner in IUCN, Dorothee Herr."For the last few months IUCN has focused on assessing the Small Scale Initiative's (SSI) policy situation. While I was on maternity leave, fantastic colleagues have steadily researched and...

Silvestrum just finalised its pre-feasibility assessment for a blue carbon project in the Zambezi Delta, Mozambique. The assessment was commissioned by WWF Mozambique and formed part of the activities under the framework of the GEF Blue Forests program.Mozambique...

Coastal and marine ecosystems are under significant threat. Between 2-7% of the earth's blue carbon sinks are lost annually, and if more action is not taken immediately to restore these vital ecosystems, most may be lost within 20 years.The benefits of seagrass...

This research describes the shift that has taken place since the 1990's in the southern African development-conservation paradigm - from an approach that emphasized centralized management and wildlife protection, to one that better incorporates socio-economic...

A recent study, published by Data Mares, highlights the vital ecosystem service that mangroves provide as productive fish nursery habitat, particularly for yellow snapper in the Gulf of California. Mangroves are snapper generatorsAccording to this study, "each...

Thanks to advice and support of Prof. Cath Lovelock, a member of the Blue Forests Carbon Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel, the Madagascar intervention recently installed the first mangrove Rod Surface Elevation Tables (RSETs) in Africa. We are using RSETs to...

Coastal wetlands have been the focus of conservation and restoration efforts for over a century with the goal of preserving biodiversity and generating benefits to local communities.A diverse portfolio of financing sources has been used for supporting conservation and...

A new methodology to encourage coastal restoration across the globe has been approved by the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS). The Methodology for Tidal Wetland and Seagrass Restoration (VM0033) is the first globally applicable greenhouse gas accounting methodology for...

SAIIA's Governance of Africa's Resources Programme (GARP) works to improve policies governing Africa's abundant natural resources. The programme analyses the key local, continental and global trends influencing the management, use, development and...