Southeast Asia holds 33% of the world's remaining mangroves and some of the richest coastal carbon ecosystems on Earth. Vivent partners with fishing cooperatives across 5 countries to restore, protect, and credit these irreplaceable blue carbon ecosystems.
Southeast Asia is simultaneously the world's most important mangrove region and one of the most severely impacted. Indonesia alone has lost over 1.8 million hectares of mangrove since 1980 — primarily to shrimp aquaculture expansion and coastal development. The Philippines has lost 70% of its mangrove cover in the past century. Vietnam's iconic Mekong Delta mangroves have been hollowed out by shrimp and rice expansion. Yet what remains is extraordinarily carbon-dense and ecologically valuable.
Vivent entered Southeast Asia in 2021, beginning with the North Sulawesi mangrove programme in Indonesia. Our approach centres on a simple observation: the fishing communities who live alongside these ecosystems have the most to gain from their restoration, and the most capacity to protect them. By making fishing cooperatives the primary implementers — not external planting crews — we consistently achieve 20–40% higher seedling survival rates and generate genuine long-term community stewardship.
Our Southeast Asia portfolio now spans mangrove restoration (Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh), seaweed cultivation (Philippines, Vietnam), seagrass restoration (Indonesia), and has a marine CDR R&D programme in Vietnam's Mekong Delta coast. The region represents Vivent's fastest-growing programme area.
Blue carbon restoration and ocean CDR across the Indo-Pacific.
42 fishing villages, 4,200 community members, 6,400 ha of restored inter-tidal mangrove using native Rhizophora and Avicennia. 82% survival rate. +44% nearshore fish catch in Year 4.
2,400 seaweed farmers across 12 barangays. 1,800 ha of Eucheuma and Kappaphycus longlines. First large-scale verified seaweed credits in Philippines — 8,400 tCO₂e Year 2. 72% women farmers.
Typhoon-impacted coastal restoration targeting 3,100 ha with 2,800 community members. UNDP co-funded. Integrated disaster risk reduction with mangrove restoration for typhoon resilience.
180 community divers planting native Thalassia and Cymodocea across 620 ha of degraded seagrass beds. JCU research partnership for sediment carbon measurement. VCS methodology development.
Mangrove restoration and protection in the Sundarbans World Heritage Site buffer zone. 1,600 community members addressing aquaculture-driven degradation. Plan Vivo Blue certified.
Pipeline marine CDR programme combining AWD rice management (methane reduction) with seaweed cultivation and coastal alkalinity research. University of Can Tho partnership. Target launch 2027.
Vivent's Southeast Asia programmes are built around a foundational insight: the fishing families who have depended on healthy coastal ecosystems for generations are the most motivated and most effective guardians of restored mangroves and seagrass. When community members are employed as restoration workers, monitors, and cooperative managers — rather than passive beneficiaries — outcomes are dramatically better.
Women's participation is particularly strong in the seaweed programmes: 72% of enrolled seaweed farmers are women. Carbon income disbursed via GCash and local cooperative accounts goes directly to the registered farming household, bypassing intermediaries that historically capture value from smallholder supply chains.
Vivent's Southeast Asia blue carbon credits are among the richest co-benefit credits in the voluntary market — restoring fisheries, protecting coastlines, and empowering fishing communities.