At the ongoing 27th Session of Conference of Parties (COP27) at Sharm El-Sheikh, the Mangrove Alliance for Climate (MAC) was launched with India as a partner.
What is it?
MAC is an initiative spearheaded by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in partnership with Indonesia to strengthen efforts on conserving and restoring mangrove forests.
It aims to raise awareness about the role of mangroves as a “nature-based” solution to climate change.
India is among the first countries to join the alliance; the others include Australia, Japan, Spain, and Sri Lanka.
As part of this alliance, an international mangrove research centre will be established in Indonesia.
This centre will conduct studies on mangrove ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and ecotourism.
Working —
The intergovernmental alliance will work on a voluntary basis and countries will set their deadlines for mangrove conservation.
The parties will decide their own commitments and deadlines regarding planting and restoring mangroves.
It will be difficult to hold members accountable. However, the member nations will share expertise and back each other in the endeavour to protect coastal areas.
India’s association would strengthen MAC —
As part of its Nationally determined contributions (NDCs), India has committed to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
Hence, India is keen on growing the mangrove plantation.
India has demonstrated expertise in mangrove restoration activities for nearly five decades and restored different types of mangrove ecosystems both on its east and west coasts.
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