New project to support fairer mangrove restoration in Malaysia
The REVIVE project will explore how restored mangroves can protect ecosystems while creating fairer opportunities for the coastal communities who depend on them.
A new international research project led by The University of Manchester supported by the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, The University of Warwick, Cardiff University, National University of Singapore, and the Penang Inshore Fishermen Welfare Association, will fundamentally rethink the trade-offs and synergies between mangrove restoration and expansion through commercial value chains.
REVIVE, Just Restoration and Equitable Value Chains for Inclusive, Viable Mangrove Ecosystems, will look beyond tree planting to understand how restored landscapes can support communities as well as ecosystems.
Led by Dr Aarti Krishnan, Senior Lecturer in Innovation and Sustainability at Alliance 91直播 Business School, the project will work across three Malaysian mangrove landscapes: Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve, Sungai Acheh and Sungai Chenaam in Penang, and Setiu Wetlands State Park in Terengganu.
Mangroves protect shorelines, store carbon, sustain fisheries and support local livelihoods, but restoration projects can sometimes leave communities in low-paid roles or exclude them from the wider benefits created by healthier ecosystems.
REVIVE will test a different approach, combining community governance, environmental evidence and fairer routes into higher-value markets.
The project is funded by the Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate/Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and runs from July 2026 to June 2029.
We know a lot about how to restore mangroves- at least technically. But if the benefits of restoration do not reach local communities, long-term sustainability is unlikely to be achieved. Through innovative research carried out by partners in UK and Malaysia, the REVIVE project seeks to remedy this by putting the rights, perceptions and needs of local people at the center of research into mangrove restoration.
REVIVE centres people, livelihoods, power - who captures value from restored landscapes. we want to how to measure 鈥榡ust restoration鈥� so it can be designed such that communities are recognised as stewards, decision-makers and active participants in fair value chains.鈥�
The project will bring together a multi-disciplinary team from geography, marine ecology, economics, management studies, data and decision sciences.
At its heart, REVIVE will co-produce with local communities to reflect local knowledge and support decision-making in Malaysia.
Planned Outputs include articles, policy briefs, open datasets and map packs (restoration maps, blue carbon), innovative trade-off forward Business Models, roundtables, a community-led 鈥淢angrove Memory Archive鈥� capturing local experiences of floods, fish, food, work, loss and restoration.
Congratulations to Dr. Aarti Krishnan, Dr. Mehebub Sahana, Dr. Ahmad Aldrie Amir, Dr. B. Satyanarayana, Dr Giovanna Wolswijk, Dr. Subhasish Dey, Prof. Daniel Gartner, Radhika Bhargava, Sandra Sampaio and Pakcik Ilyas (PIFWA) .
An advisory board of government, conservation, responsible business and international development specialists will support the project.