The 'Wetlands and Blue Carbon' webinar was organized on 2nd May 2024 by the Faculty of Forestry and Environment with the collaboration of the Blue Carbon Strategic Unit, Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP), the University of the Philippines Los Baños, Philippines and the Mataram University, Indonesia. Four speakers from the Southeast Asian region were invited to share about the importance of wetland ecosystems in addressing blue carbon issues and climate change and they are as follows:

Capitalising global blue carbon assets and potentials by protecting mangroves of Malaysia

Dr. A. Aldrie Amir

Senior Lecturer / Research Fellow

Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI)

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)

Local Perceptions of Blue Carbon

Dr. Jay Mar Quevedo

Research Fellow, Asia Research Institute

National University of Singapore (NUS)

Future-proofing mangrove blue carbon governance

Prof. Dixon T. Gevaña

Director, Forestry Development Center, College of Forestry and Natural Resources & Professor, Department of Social Forestry and Forest Governance, University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB)

Silvofishery: Lessons Learned from Participatory Action Research in West Nusa Tenggara

Madam Eni Hidayati

Universiti of Mataram (UNRAM) & PhD candidate, the Australian National University (ANU)

The webinar was participated by 113 participants from the participating institutions, government agencies and non-governmental organization from six countries: Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Pakistan, and Australia. The webinar concluded that although much research work has been done at all levels, yet there is more to do and discover. There are constraints and gaps in conservation work on mangroves and blue carbon which among those identified are:

• a need for researchers to work collaboratively with a clear agenda, that leads to sustainable use of mangroves;
• researchers need to see how our work can complement each other rather than create redundancy;
• the research findings must be able to guide the relevant stakeholders to make informed decisions;
• conduct a more holistic research by integrating various fields (e.g. social, cultural, political) aside from the frequent ecological and biological studies on mangroves. More research on the people is needed – perception and attitude because they are the first responders to mangrove and blue carbon issues on-site and supporting mangrove conservation initiatives;
• ensuring our efforts with the local communities can be sustained over time rather than bound by factors such as financial assistance.
• evaluation is a critical process that must be integrated into the roadmaps and projects so that we get tangible results and better understanding of the situation that would guide us in identifying what works and what does not work;
• the community’s vision and aspiration must be included part into the road map so that the conservation of the people and mangrove are parallel, and the efforts are well accepted and supported by the communities. 

Date of Input: 29/05/2024 | Updated: 29/05/2024 | amallina.osman