Mangroves for Coastal Resilience (M4CR)
Indonesia's Mangroves for Coastal Resilience Project (M4CR) is a USD 400 million World Bank-financed effort, led by the national Peatland and Mangrove Restoration Agency (BRGM), to restore and sustainably manage roughly 75,000 hectares of mangroves across four priority provinces. It sits within Indonesia's national ambition to rehabilitate 600,000 hectares of degraded mangrove, and is structured as results-based development finance rather than a tradable carbon-credit project.
Inside the project
Indonesia holds the world's largest mangrove estate, about 3.4 million hectares, over a fifth of all mangroves globally, storing an estimated 3.1 billion tons of carbon. Decades of conversion to aquaculture, timber extraction and coastal development have degraded large tracts. In 2020 the government made mangrove rehabilitation a presidential priority, targeting 600,000 hectares by 2024.
The World Bank's M4CR project, approved in May 2022 and running to 2027, channels USD 400 million of IBRD financing into this agenda, of which USD 100 million is tied to performance-based conditions. It supports stronger mangrove-management policy, rehabilitation of roughly 75,000 hectares across four landscapes, and alternative village livelihoods. Implementation began in Riau, North Sumatra, North Kalimantan and East Kalimantan.
Because disbursement is partly conditional on verified results rather than activity inputs, M4CR depends heavily on credible measurement of restored area and ecosystem outcomes. This is a development-finance model distinct from carbon-credit projects.
Objectives
- Rehabilitate ~75,000 ha of mangrove across four landscapes
- Strengthen national mangrove-management policy and institutions
- Develop alternative village livelihoods that reduce degradation
- Release results-based finance against verified outcomes
- Advance Indonesia's land-use carbon-sink goal for 2030
Approach
- Because portions of disbursement are tied to Performance-Based Conditions, M4CR relies on verification of restored hectares and management outcomes against agreed PBC milestones, tracked through World Bank Implementation Status and Results Reports.
- Restoration progress is monitored by BRGM and partner ministries with World Bank supervision, underpinned by remote sensing of mangrove extent and field verification, with no Verra or Plan Vivo credit cycle attached.
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See how a project like Mangroves for Coastal Resilience (M4CR) runs on Straatos, from field data and satellite analytics through registry submission to the issued credit.