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Good practice Imported

Vida Manglar — Colombia's First Verified Blue Carbon Mangrove Project (Cispatá Bay)

Colombia · San Bernardo del Viento · See the Colombia profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 18% 60/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Conservation International and Colombian partners' Vida Manglar project protects and restores mangroves across Cispatá Bay, scaling from 7,500 to 11,000 hectares; the first VCS-registered blue carbon project worldwide (2021), projected to remove ~1.22 million tCO2e over 30 years.

~7,500 ha (expanding to ~11,000 ha)
Current project area
~1.22 million tonnes
Estimated CO2e avoided/removed over 30 years
Vida Manglar — Colombia's First Verified Blue Carbon Mangrove Project (Cispatá Bay)

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
Conservation International, Invemar & CVS (Corporación Autónoma Regional de los Valles del Sinú y del San Jorge)
Period
2021–ongoing (30-year crediting period)
Keywords
blue carbon, mangrove conservation, carbon markets, community benefit-sharing

Context

Vida Manglar, led by Conservation International with Colombia's Invemar and CVS, protects and restores mangrove forests around Cispatá Bay in the Gulf of Morrosquillo.

Activities

The project currently covers about 7,500 hectares, designed to expand to roughly 11,000 hectares over a 30-year crediting period, built around a community benefit-sharing model channelling carbon-credit revenue to fishing and mangrove-dependent communities.

Results

In 2021 Vida Manglar became the first blue carbon project worldwide registered under Verra's Verified Carbon Standard (VCS 2290); Verra and Conservation International estimate it will avoid or remove close to 1.22 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent over 30 years.

Conclusions

As with other voluntary carbon-market mangrove projects, emissions figures are independently verified estimates rather than direct measurements, and coastal wetland carbon storage carries a documented permanence risk from storms and sea-level rise.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Conservation International, Invemar (Colombian marine research institute), CVS (regional environmental authority)

Conditions for success

  • Verra VCS registration and independent verification
  • community benefit-sharing model with fishing communities

Common failure modes

  • permanence risk from storms and sea-level rise
  • no numeric breakdown of benefit-sharing revenue distribution found

Commonly funded by

Philanthropic / foundation funding

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

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Data sources

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

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