evidoria

← Back to browse

Good practice Imported

Tonga's Ridge to Reef Community Grants — Mangrove Restoration & Coastal Resilience

Tonga · Nuku'alofa · See the Tonga profile · See the Nuku'alofa profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 84% 33/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Tonga's GEF/UNDP-funded Ridge to Reef programme has directed USD 570,000 to 33 communities across Tongatapu and Vava'u, financing mangrove nurseries aiming to plant 200,000 mangroves, women-led livelihoods and youth-led monitoring in erosion-vulnerable coastal areas.

570000 USD
Community Grants Initiative funding (2025)
33
Communities funded
200000
Mangrove-planting target
Tonga's Ridge to Reef Community Grants — Mangrove Restoration & Coastal Resilience

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Tonga Department of Environment / UNDP-GEF Ridge to Reef Programme; Coastal Green Nursery
Period
2025–ongoing
Keywords
coastal ecosystems, mangrove restoration, climate adaptation, community livelihoods

Context

Tonga's low-lying islands face intensifying cyclones, coastal erosion and sea-level rise. The national Ridge to Reef (R2R) programme, supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and UNDP, takes an integrated land-coast-marine approach to building climate resilience.

Objectives

In 2025 the programme launched a Community Grants Initiative to fund women-led sustainable-livelihood projects, strengthened community governance and coordination, youth-led ecosystem data collection, and coastal and marine protection led by the Coastal Green Nursery, prioritising erosion-vulnerable coastal sites.

Activities

The Community Grants Initiative, worth USD 570,000, disburses directly to 33 communities — 26 on Tongatapu and 7 in the Vava'u island group. The mangrove-restoration component targets 200,000 mangroves planted across Tongatapu and Vava'u, reaching 20 schools and 10 communities, with priority given to erosion-vulnerable sites such as the Fanga'uta lagoon and Vaipua.

Results

The programme has disbursed USD 570,000 in grants to 33 communities to date, with a mangrove-planting target of 200,000 mangroves reaching 20 schools and 10 communities; no ecological outcome data has yet been measured, since disbursement only began in 2025–2026.

Conclusions

Because the grants only began disbursing in 2025–2026, independent outcome data — survival rates, measured shoreline retention, verified carbon sequestration — is not yet available; the programme's evidence base currently rests on its transparent funding structure and community targeting rather than measured ecological results.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — USD 570,000 Community Grants Initiative disbursed directly to communities.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — Grants only began disbursing in 2025–2026; too early for outcome data.
Staffing & skills
Tonga Department of Environment, UNDP-GEF Ridge to Reef Programme, Coastal Green Nursery

Conditions for success

  • GEF/UNDP funding backing an integrated land-coast-marine approach
  • Direct disbursement to 33 communities across two island groups
  • Four-strand design combining livelihoods, governance, youth monitoring and coastal restoration

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

Do you run this practice? Claim it — verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

Similar practices you may find useful