Scaling of mangrove afforestation with carbon finance to create significant impact on the biodiversity – a new paradigm in biodiversity conservation models

by Ajanta Dey and Animesh Kar

Sunderbans has undergone a huge loss of forest cover in the past century. Population pressure ever increasing, the administration is more intent on developing economic activities in the area. However no economic activities will sustain if the environmental vulnerability of the region is not properly addressed. Mangroves form the basis of the ecosystem and large scale restoration of this mangrove cover on a scientific basis can create the necessary impact on the biodiversity and mitigate climate change. The carbon finance approach adopted by “Livelihoods” is a tool to create biodiversity-core social business models. This writing reviews into the theory and practices of such a model implemented in Sunderbans and identifies the prospects and challenges.