Mangrove forests are highly valuable ecosystems. They protect coastal zones against erosion and extreme weather. They provide key nursery areas for fish and are home to many other animal species, including waterbirds and an abundance of sea life. See more about mangrove areas and the threats they face.

Our aims and activities 

We cannot restore all the world's mangrove coasts on our own, so our approach is to share our expertise with others. The success of our field and research projects enable us to provide tools to inform governments, the private sector and communities on how to safeguard remaining mangroves and reverse the loss of these important areas.

To maximise our impact, we need facts and figures to convince authorities to conserve mangrove forests in all development projects that are planned, such as coastal roads, tourist resorts and especially shrimp and fish farms. Together with research institutes, we conduct large-scale research in Indonesia to generate facts on the importance of mangroves for coastal protection and the maintenance of fish stocks, and use this information to advocate for mangrove conservation.

Past and current mangrove restoration activities:

We have restored a large number of logged and degraded mangrove forests, together with local communities in Sumatra and Java using the 'biorights' microcredit scheme.

After the tsunami of December 2004, we led a large-scale restoration project along the coasts of Aceh and Nias (Sumatra). We also restored mangroves on the North Shore of Java (Pemalang, Banten Bay).

Currently, we are involved in restoration activities in Flores, Indonesia.