Scaling up blue finance to support mangrove-based livelihoods in the Philippines

“Mangroves are vital natural assets, supporting coastal livelihoods, strengthening resilience and playing a critical role in climate action. This important report highlights how smarter blue finance can help unlock investment for the communities who depend on them, helping turn strong ideas into practical action on the ground.”

—Sir Andrew Steer, KCMG, PhD
Professor of Practice, Global School of Sustainability, and International Growth Centre, London School of Economics

Many communities across Southeast Asia are already experiencing the increasing impacts of climate change, particularly in coastal areas where populations have climate-sensitive livelihoods but there is limited access to finance, technology and institutional support. The Philippines is one of the countries most vulnerable to adverse changes in the weather and climate and over 60% of its population depends on economic activities associated with the ocean, seas and coastal regions (the ‘blue economy’) for their food and livelihood needs.

Mangrove forests are an important form of nature-based coastal protection from storm surges, a habitat for fish, and a carbon sink. They also stabilise shorelines and reduce erosion, and create buffers for coastal defence that improve the resilience of local coastal communities to weather and climate shocks, among many other important roles. With over half of the world’s mangrove species to be found in the Philippines, their preservation and restoration are therefore vital.

This report examines how funding can be mobilised to protect mangroves and to maximise benefits for local communities in the Philippines. The authors propose a conceptual framework for ‘debt-for-mangrove’ swaps, focusing on how debt swap mechanisms can better be designed to create the fiscal space needed for investment in mangrove ecosystems.