The Mangrove Alliance for Climate (MAC), spearheaded by the United Arab Emirates, will build a new mangrove centre as part of its global mission to restore and protect 15 million hectares of mangroves by 2030.
Mariam Almheiri, UAE’s Minister of Climate Change and Environment, said at a ministerial press conference during COP28 that the centre will help advance research and innovation and foster knowledge exchange within the global scientific communities on mangroves.
She said UAE’s personal mission to plant 100 million mangrove trees by 2030 is well on track and the country has successfully planted 45 million mangroves so far.
The minister said MAC, led by the UAE in partnership with Indonesia, has signed 39 countries so far which is a huge achievement.
She said the member countries and 50 non-state actors who met at COP28 affirmed their support for Mangrove Breakthrough – a collaborative effort between the Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA) and the UN Climate Change High-level Champions that goes with the same global mission to restore and protect 15 million hectares of mangroves globally by 2030.
All this came in the backdrop of a massive funding announcement by Razan Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High-Level Climate Champions for COP28, who said plans are in place for the mobilisation of over $2.6 billion in financing for nature, biodiversity and climate. She also announced $100 million of new UAE grant funding, the first tranche of which will support Ghana’s efforts in forest restoration, ecosystem services and sustainable livelihoods for local communities.
The Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA) in collaboration with the UN Climate Change High-level Champions identified the need for a unified global approach towards mangrove conservation and called for signatories to the “Mangrove Breakthrough” which was launched at COP27.
The key objectives of the Mangrove Breakthrough are halting mangrove losses, restoring half of the recent mangrove loses, doubling the protection of mangroves on a global scale, and calling for an investment of $4 billion by 2030 to conserve and revitalise mangrove ecosystems.