Working in the carbon market since 2011, mangroves are finally getting the attention they should have as a climate solution. In an interview with Better Worlds host Julian Guderley, Dr. Irina Fedorenko noted that the emerging market is still messy and not transparent because it didn’t receive enough attention in the past few years.
At first an underdog, she is now on point with the trends in the carbon market, working with VlinderClimate and Caux Dialogue, and other organizations in unison to democratize the market. Through a holistic approach, these organizations build teams and strengthen partnerships for mangrove reforestation projects, helping communities manage mangroves as a barrier between land and sea to protect land from increasing climate-change storms and the damage they bring. But they have a multitude of other benefits and through their efforts, communities see direct benefits that mangroves have on shoreline communities in social impact, habitat development and positive climate impact, and their own prosperity.
Mangroves, which Irina refers to in this podcast as “magical trees” due to their vast ability to create better ecosystems, stabilize the shores, protect land from sea, holding rich nutrients in the soil, and sequester five times the carbon dioxide of the Amazon rainforest, the most important carbon sink in the world. Irina talks with Better Worlds Host Julian Guderley about how communities are benefiting from new mangrove-related business opportunities as well, citing new projects in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Kenya and Senegal.
Irina discusses how the shoreline communities are the key stakeholders in any mangrove effort. To help keep them engaged as stewards of their own environment, the partnership with these organizations brings to them 50 percent of the carbon revenue. Irina explains how this creates prosperity for community stakeholders and the roles of each partner, from upkeep to technological mapping to show sequestration in “almost” real time.
BIO For the past seven years Dr. Federenko has been the Managing Director of Caux Dialogue on Environment and Security leading the conference team and organizing the dialogue on links between desertification, land restoration & conflict in the context of climate change. Advising on strategies and planning for the future content of the Caux Dialogue on Land & Security, in partnership with UNCCD & IUCN.
