Mapping tool to help spot carbon-rich areas in S-E Asia for conservation

An open-source tool for mapping South-east Asia's swathes of rainforests, mangroves, seagrass and peatlands will be developed to help nature conservation group Mandai Nature identify carbon-rich areas full of biodiversity that can be conserved to mitigate climate change.

The project will be funded under a $1.4 million grant by Google's philanthropic arm Google.org - its first in Singapore.

Mandai Nature will work with seven other environmental non-profit organisations such as World Resources Institute Indonesia to develop this tool.

The eight are part of a unit called the South-east Asia Climate and Nature-based Solutions Coalition.

Preserving and restoring coastal mangroves and peatlands - which act as a carbon sink to soak up carbon dioxide - makes for a reasonable nature-based climate change solution, said Mandai Nature chief executive Kavita Prakash-Mani.

It changes the game when these efforts can also conserve the areas' rich biodiversity and benefit the indigenous people living on the land, she added.

Google employees will share their expertise with the coalition to build the initial stages of the tool.

The $1.4 million grant was announced at Google Singapore's 15th anniversary event yesterday.

Google Singapore managing director Ben King said: "We've seen that a major challenge for non-profit organisations in tackling the climate crisis has been the lack of credible data and evidence to inform where and how to implement programmes at the pace and scale required."

A trial version of the mapping tool is expected to be rolled out by early 2024.

So far, few research reports on nature-based solutions have illustrated in detail what a good natural climate project looks like, said Ms Prakash-Mani.

Therefore, the coalition will also use the tool to plot good examples of such projects to create a comprehensive guidebook on how to plan, implement and evaluate nature-based solutions.

Ms Prakash-Mani cited the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary REDD+ Project in Cambodia as a successful project.

REDD+, or reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, is a United Nations-backed scheme in which investors protect threatened forests, boost carbon stocks within them and enhance their conservation value.

Under the project, 25,000ha of deforestation have been prevented since 2010, the habitats of critically endangered primates have been protected, and the ancestral land of the Bunong indigenous people has been left untouched.

Revenues from carbon credit buyers and investors have helped to make all these happen.

After finishing the mapping tool and guidebook, the coalition aims to find and support at least three highly promising projects in South-east Asia later this decade.