The project, located in the Sindh Province of Pakistan, is over 350,000 hectares of tidal wetlands, an area bigger than Luxembourg.
DBC-1 has been operational for six years and has already restored 73,000 hectares of degraded mangrove forests and tidal wetlands.
Over the coming decade, this will expand across a 350,000-hectare region and in the next 60 years the wetlands will sequester an estimated 142 million tonnes of CO2.
Blue Carbon Projects are a powerful new climate solution. Mangrove forests are incredibly effective carbon sinks – studies have found that they can hold up to four times more carbon than other tropical rainforests.
The project is one of the first projects to use Verra’s cutting-edge Blue Carbon tidal wetland methodology, which accounts for the effects of sea level rise over the project’s lifetime.
As well as biodiversity and climate outcomes, the project is also delivering significant benefits to the 49,000 local people who live in the project area.
Planting the mangroves has also created hundreds of local jobs, which will become thousands as the project expands. A “ward and watch” programme is also put in place after planting, creating a new revenue stream for local communities paid to protect the mangroves.
The project has a strong focus on creating opportunities for women and is also delivering investment in education and healthcare, and access to safe drinking water.
A VERRA and CCBA Triple Gold certified project.
The following Sustainable Development Goals are being pursued with this project: