Vida Manglar, blue carbon program in the Colombian Caribbean

The Blue Carbon Project, Gulf of Morrosquillo "Vida Manglar", is a local institutional and regional community initiative, which seeks certification of actions related to the reduction of carbon emissions due to unplanned deforestation and the conservation of coastal wetlands in 7,561 ha of mangrove forests.  The grouped project began on May 15, 2015, and is expected to last 30 years. During that time a reduction of 939,296 tCO2e is expected through the implementation of activities related to four strategic lines framed in the Action Plan of the Integrated Management Plan of the protected area of Cispatá: strengthening local governance; promoting alternative productive projects with local communities; recovery and rehabilitation of mangrove areas; and monitoring the associated biodiversity. During the first monitoring period (15 May 2015 to 31 December 2018) a net reduction of 69,027 tCO2e was certified. The program is developing the second monitoring report. 

Vida Manglar is led by a coalition of public and private organizations — including the national environmental authorities Coporación Autónoma Regional del Valle del Sinú (CVS), the Colombia’s Marine and Coastal Research Institute (INVEMAR), the local NGO Fundación Omacha, Conservation International and community-based associations of mangrove workers. Communities living around the project area have a high economic dependence on the natural resources associated with the mangrove forests. Historically, they have promoted different sustainable management initiatives together with the authority to improve their economic welfare and to maintain the environmental quality of the ecosystem. They are part of the governance structure of the project and a key partner for decision-making processes. One unique characteristic of this project is the existence of a rotating forest management scheme that allows local communities to use mangrove wood based on permits granted by the regional environmental authority on a yearly basis.

In Colombia the use of mangrove wood is prohibited for any purposes, but in Cordoba Department, due to an extensive mangrove monitoring done with communities since 1990, the authority reached to the conclusion that using sustainably the mangrove forest was a better way of keeping them healthy, instead of prohibiting the use that might create illegal activities. That is why mangrove users are associated and receive extraction permits every year, based on volume of wood collected and monitored by the authority. The entire mangrove forest is divided into 13 different subzones, which are harvested by year on a rotation basis.  In exchange for making specific commitments that limit the amount of wood they extract from the mangrove forest, as well as the active participation on monitoring activities, community members receive benefits from the blue carbon program, such as wages for opening channels to avoid high salinity levels, capacity building opportunities, as well as economic alternatives. The local knowledge is used to select which channels needs an urgent maintenance, as well as how is the best way of helping and increasing the natural regeneration of the forest.