Apple announces partnership to protect mangroves in India, save local livelihood 

Apple has joined hands with two organisations to help protect the mangrove ecosystem in India and the livelihoods that depend upon it. The focus of this partnership is the mangroves in the Raigad district in Maharashtra. This is a part of Apple’s ongoing work to support communities most affected by climate change. 

The partnership involves the Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF) and the Conservation International. The work started in 2021 when Apple awarded a grant to AERF to work with the local community to protect 2,400 hectares of mangrove forests in Raigad. 

“Through the partnership, AERF will enter into conservation agreements with local community members, offering support in exchange for conserving and protecting the mangroves on their land. Ultimately, the goal of the partnership is to help transition the local economy to one that relies on keeping mangroves intact and healthy,” Apple explained in the announcement. 

AERF is going to engage Conservation International to “verify the climate benefits of the mangroves, accounting for the carbon sequestered in both the trees and soil”. “In addition to protecting coastal communities from climate impacts like the unpredictable monsoons and rising tides that threaten the Raigad district, mangroves act as carbon sinks that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in their soil, plants, and another sediment,” Apple added. 

Conservation International’s blue carbon finance project in Cispata Bay, Colombia, was “the first in the world to adequately and accurately measure not only the carbon that mangrove trees store in their trunks and leaves, but also what they sequester in their soil”. AERF is going to apply these learnings to the project at Raigad and the plan is to establish a model that can be scaled across the country. 

Besides protecting the existing mangroves in the area, the grant also supports the restoration of mangroves across a 50-hectare area where they have degraded. Additionally, the grant will also overlook the purchase and distribution of portable bio-stoves that will help people cook without having to cut down mangroves for firewood. 

“The fight against climate change is a fight for the communities around the world whose lives and livelihoods are most threatened by the crisis, and that’s where we’ve focused our work — from Colombia to Kenya to the Philippines. Our new partnership in India continues this momentum, helping a community benefit economically from the restoration of the mangrove forests that protect against the worst impacts of climate change,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives. 

“To collaborate with Apple and Conservation International is a great opportunity to explore how mangrove conservation and community benefits can go hand in hand. Though mangrove conservation issues are diverse and different in each place, here in our project area, opportunities are also many. Training our young, enthusiastic team as well as local communities for blue carbon will surely help us travel a long way to achieve mangrove conservation in this vibrant coastal area along the Arabian Sea,”  said Dr Archana Godbole, director of AERF. 

This project is a part of Apple’s $200-million Restore Fund that was launched last year with Conservation International and Goldman Sachs.

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