Indonesia is moving to include coastal blue carbon ecosystems—housing 22% of the world’s mangroves and 5% of seagrass meadows—in its new climate targets, a shift supported by a 2023 Climateworks Centre study showing the country could prevent up to 60 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually by 2030.
For years, Indonesia has relied heavily on the forestry, land, and energy sectors to drive its environmental policies. Now, the country is signalling a major pivot toward its coastal waters as it prepares new climate commitments. These marine habitats represent a powerful ocean-climate link, yet they face persistent threats from changes in land use, industrial fishing, unsustainable aquaculture, massive infrastructure development, and overtourism.
Protecting Mangroves and Seagrass Through Dual Conservation Frameworks
As of 2019, only 16% of Indonesia’s mangroves and 45% of its seagrass beds sat inside protected areas. When these ecosystems suffer damage, they release stored carbon back into the atmosphere, compounding global warming. To curb these emissions, the conservation study highlights a strategy of protecting 39,000 hectares per year of mangroves and 8,600 hectares per year of seagrasses by 2030. Together, that combined conservation footprint spans nearly three-quarters the size of Jakarta.
Achieving this goal relies on two distinct designation systems. The government plans to increase marine protected areas from 8% to 10% by 2030, shielding vital zones from industrial mining, mass tourism, and commercial fishing. Alongside formal marine protected areas, other effective area-based conservation measures offer a vital secondary tool. These measures can recognize and support centuries-old traditional management systems, such as the marine practices maintained by the indigenous community of Rote Ndao in Eastern Indonesia. Research indicates that the country holds more than 390 potential marine sites fitting this description.
Mapping Priority Locations Across the Archipelago
Targeting conservation effectively requires robust data collection, though mapping progress varies widely between habitats. For mangrove ecosystems, authorities point to Kalimantan and Papua as key priority areas. Between 2009 and 2019, Kalimantan lost approximately 19% of its mangroves—about 58,000 hectares—to palm oil plantations and aquaculture. Papua, by contrast, retains a vast expanse of carbon-dense mangroves alongside a low historical rate of deforestation.
Seagrass protection presents a different challenge because a complete national seagrass map remains unfinished. Before finalizing specific protection boundaries, the government can verify data across provinces such as Maluku, North Maluku, the Bangka Belitung Islands, Southeast Sulawesi, West Papua, and South Sulawesi. Additional priority areas include the Riau Islands and West Nusa Tenggara, both of which feature extensive seagrass meadows currently lacking formal marine protected area coverage.
Global Carbon Stocks and Regional Disparities
The push to protect these ecosystems aligns with broader scientific assessments of how coastal plants cycle and store carbon globally. Recent research analyzing data from 1975 to 2020 estimates total global seagrass carbon biomass at 24 to 40 megatonnes, with net primary productivity fixing between 83 and 137 megatonnes of carbon annually. These carbon stocks vary significantly by region, influenced heavily by the dominant plant genera.
Large, persistent species within the Posidonia, Enhalus, and Thalassia genera dominate regions like the Mediterranean and the Tropical Atlantic, generating exceptionally high biomass carbon stocks per hectare. Conversely, regions dominated by smaller opportunistic or colonizing plants display lower standing biomass but maintain exceptionally high net primary productivity rates.
Emissions from Habitat Loss and the Role of Carbon Accounting
The loss of these coastal habitats carries heavy climate consequences. According to findings discussed in European Union environmental reporting, Australia accounts for 52% of the global total of annual carbon dioxide emissions resulting from seagrass loss, followed by Spain, Mexico, Italy, and the United States. Targeted conservation efforts within these nations would yield the most substantial mitigation impacts.
International frameworks are slowly adapting to these realities. The European Union has published a Blue Carbon Roadmap to facilitate the inclusion of coastal carbon in nature credit schemes. Meanwhile, the United Nations continues to press for expanded seascape restoration. Researchers suggest that accounting models must incorporate the persistent biomass of long-lived seagrasses to prevent carbon pools from degrading over time, though scientists still face challenges measuring organic carbon stocks amid extreme local variations.
Financing Future Climate Ambitions Through Local Participation
For Indonesia, setting clear, measurable area-based targets for marine ecosystems serves a dual purpose. Beyond directly curbing greenhouse gas emissions, clear targets establish the foundation required to attract international climate financing. Achieving these goals depends heavily on coordinating across government agencies and aligning with existing frameworks like the country’s Blue Economy Roadmap.
Local participation remains central to executing these protection plans. By designing conservation targets alongside coastal communities, Indonesia can secure community consent while bolstering its international climate leadership as the global economy pushes toward net-zero emissions.
