Blue carbon projects and carbon markets
Mangrove carbon credits pay for protecting or restoring forest, but only if the carbon is real, additional and permanent.
A carbon project earns credits for emissions avoided (by protecting mangrove that would otherwise be cleared) or carbon removed (by restoring it). Each credit usually represents one tonne of CO₂-equivalent. Credits are sold to organisations that want to offset emissions, and the income can fund protection and community benefits.
Four tests every credible project must pass
- Additionality: the carbon benefit would not have happened without the project.
- Baseline: a defensible estimate of what would have happened otherwise.
- Permanence: the carbon stays stored (projects keep a buffer of unsold credits against risks).
- Leakage: clearing is not just moved to the next village.
Standards such as Verra (VCS) and Gold Standard publish methodologies, and Plan Vivo is widely used for community projects. Verification by an independent body is required. Methodologies and rules change, so always read the current version.
What Atlas can and cannot do. Atlas can help screen sites (how much mangrove, how fragmented, how much is changing, what pressures are nearby) and show the transparent arithmetic behind a carbon range. It cannot issue or verify credits, and its illustrative stocks must never be used as a claim.
Related reading
More in Knowledge Base
- What data is coming next
- Mangrove zonation: why different species grow in bands
- Seagrass meadows: blue carbon's quiet partner
- Salt marshes and tidal flats
- Global Mangrove Watch: version 3 and version 4 explained
- Organisations and community involvement in carbon projects
- LAPSSET: why a corridor project matters to mangroves
- East African and Indian Ocean mangroves
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