ORRAA Action Report 2021
Reports
Read about the innovative projects undertaken by ORRAA, in conjunction with its members, in 2021, in our first Action Report.
Project Lead: Conservation International
Financial Support: In-Kind
Location: Philippines
Summary
Mangroves are extremely valuable ecosystems, but they are highly threatened due to a lack of understanding of their economic, biodiversity and carbon-storing benefits. To capture the economic value of mangroves, ORRAA member Conservation International is creating the Restoration Insurance Service Company (RISCO), a new business model for sustainably financing mangrove conservation and restoration through revenues from blue carbon credit sales and insurance-related payments.
Challenge
Mangroves are extremely valuable ecosystems. They deliver irreplaceable climate adaptation and mitigation, offer numerous biodiversity benefits, and are among the most carbon-dense ecosystems on Earth, storing up to 10 times more carbon than terrestrial forests.
Yet insufficient recognition of the economic benefits of mangrove forests, combined with a lack of knowledge on how to carry out or sustainably finance their conservation and restoration, continue to contribute to their loss. An estimated 25% of the world’s mangroves have been lost in the past 20 years alone.
Solution
ORRAA member Conservation International (CI) is creating a Restoration Insurance Service Company (RISCO) to capture the economic value of threatened mangroves and generate sustainable funding for conservation and restoration through two revenue streams: 1) insurance-related payments for the modelled flood risk reduction benefits of mangroves and 2) blue carbon credit payments for the validated climate mitigation value of mangroves.
RISCO will be the first instrument to sustainably finance mangrove conservation and restoration through revenues from both blue carbon credit sales and insurance-related payments. RISCO will also work with the insurance industry to develop new products that incorporate the value of the risk mitigation benefits of mangroves.
Scalability and Next Steps
CI is beginning work in two RISCO pilot sites in the Philippines. Upon completion of these pilots, CI plans to establish RISCO as a social enterprise to generate revenue for mangrove conservation and restoration, enable knowledge-sharing, networking and training and replicate the RISCO model in other countries such as Costa Rica, Indonesia and Vietnam.
