Category: Biodiversity Credits

    Pioneering the biodiversity crediting market – Vanga Seagrass Project

    Pioneering the biodiversity crediting market – Vanga Seagrass Project

    28/08/2025 by Amelia Allerton in / / /

    This blog’s author is Amelia Allerton. Amelia is responsible for the collaborative development of the seagrass biodiversity project and acts as the project’s technical coordinator. She has a background in biodiversity research within Marine Protected Areas and has experience supporting community projects.

    Introduction

    From community conservation in coastal Kenya to international recognition on the world stage, the Vanga Seagrass Project (VSP) is undergoing a pioneering and world-first journey. The project team, a coalition between ACES, a coastal community and research organisations, are working hard to establish a community-led seagrass conservation project funded through the sale of biodiversity credits. The project’s high-integrity work has led to it being selected as one of the International Advisory Panel for Biodiversity Credits (IAPB) pilot projects. In this blog we will explore what this means for the project and the recognition that VSP has received so far as a pioneer in the marine biodiversity market.

    Spotted jellifish (Mastigias papua) hangs out above the seagrass in Vanga Bay
    (c) Anthony Ochieng Onyango

    The Vanga Seagrass Project (VSP)

    Vanga Bay is the largest fish landing site in Southern coastal Kenya. The area is economically and culturally important and home to the unique mangrove island, Sii Island. The local communities of Vanga Bay – Vanga, Jimbo and Kiwegu – contacted the ACES in 2018 to replicate the successes of the world’s first community-led blue carbon project, Mikoko Pamoja, located just 50km up the coast from Vanga. The mangrove conservation project, Vanga Blue Forest, covering 460ha of mangrove forest  was launched in 2020.

    From the inception of Vanga Blue Forest, the communities of Vanga Bay – in collaboration with ACES – have explored various ways of sustainable financing seagrass conservation, including the development of a ‘carbon-plus’ approach. Now, after years of successful mangrove conservation, the launch of Plan Vivo’s PV Nature Standard offers an opportunity to finance community-led seagrass conservation activities through the emerging biodiversity market. As a result, the community-led Vanga Seagrass Project was born, the first of its kind to use biodiversity credits to fund community-led seagrass conservation and protection.

    The VSP aims to protect 225ha of seagrass meadows in Vanga Bay, within the East African Marine Ecoregion. Here, seagrass decline is driven by unsustainable fishing practices, predominantly illegal seine netting. The community of Vanga Bay are keen to protect this vital ecosystem and as a result, management interventions centred around gear restrictions and seasonal access for the closure sites have been formulated through a series of community consultations with the local fishing community and key stakeholders. These interventions are aimed at reducing human pressures, providing necessary time for this habitat to sufficiently recover over time. Boat patrols and enforcement of fishery rules and regulations will be implemented to ensure no destructive fishing takes place in the project area.

    The project will also help raise awareness for sustainable fishing practices, seagrass conservation and the numerous benefits these fragile habitats offer. Protecting seagrasses enhances its habitat and nursery provisioning, especially for commercially valuable fish. This economically supports livelihoods for many coastal communities and provides other co-benefits such as acting as a carbon sink and improving resilience against climate change and coastal erosion. Adjacent communities will benefit from the protection of seagrasses and associated biodiversity in the bay, that includes increased fish stocks, and healthier ecosystems. The project includes 2,126 households of predominantly fishing communities represented through the Vanga Seagrass Project Committee.

    Vanga landing site: Fish catches in Vanga (measured in kg landed) have seen a >30% reduction over the past decade (Fortnam et al., 2021). Vanga Seagrass Project will protect vital nursery grounds for culturally and commercially important fish stocks.
    (c) Anthony Ochieng Onyango

    The team are working hard to certify the project under Plan Vivo’s new PV Nature Standard. Our choice to align the project with Plan Vivo was a strategic one as they have a high-integrity and community-focused approach to certifying nature finance projects. Plan Vivo has recently developed a holistic and nature-positive approach to biodiversity finance, ensuring that there is accountability, inclusivity, transparency and equitable sharing of benefits during all stages of the project. Plan Vivo stipulates that at least 60% of the project income goes to the local community, enhancing local development and funding key projects selected by the community. For example, the communities participating in Vanga Blue Forest have allocated project income to the building, refurbishment, and furnishing of local schools and madrasas, to equipping the local school laboratory and medical facility (e.g. with maternity beds).

    From local impact to global influence, VSP hopes to follow in the footsteps of Vanga Blue Forest who has been featured as a case study in multiple best-practice guidelines and articles. Already, VSP has been selected as one of the IAPB’s pilot projects and the team are actively participating in the Community of Practice.

    The International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB)

    The IAPB is a is an independent initiative established in 2023 by France and the UK to facilitate the creation and growth of high integrity biodiversity credit markets and encourage enabling policy and regulatory mechanisms, in ways that are credible, timely, and coherent on an international level. Since its establishment, the IAPB has continued to evolve and has released clear, impactful market guidance through the IAPB’s Framework. Building on the momentum, the IAPB is currently moving to operate as a fully independent legal entity and will continue to implement ambitious plans to support the high-integrity biodiversity market. These plans include a Policy Lab to support governments with enabling policy and regulation, supporting a Community of Practice to enable shared learning among selected pilot projects and continued work on standards for high-integrity markets.

    Pilot Projects

    One of the focuses of the IAPB is to have a cohort of pilot projects that are working to operate in the biodiversity credit market. IAPB has brought together an initial set of more than 30 Pilots, which together give a tangible indication of the current state of the market and its development prospects. The pilots will also facilitate knowledge sharing between the wide group of projects around the globe (across 22 countries).

    Excitingly, the VSP has been recognised for its high-integrity approach and has been selected as one of the 30 pilots that will collaborate with the IAPB and share learnings with other projects through its development journey in this emerging market.  As a pilot project, VSP will provide feedback on applying the high-quality principles and frameworks on the ground and share insights and learnings among the 30 selected projects.

    Furthermore, VSP’s work around community engagement, inclusion and local leadership has been recognised by the IAPB and the team were recently invited to present their work in the recent Community of Practice meeting. VSP and ACES were represented by Mwinyi Hassan Mohamed and Amber Baker who delivered an invigorating presentation and participated in a lively panel discussion. The meeting focused on the topic ‘equity and inclusion, particularly of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP and LCs), in biodiversity credit projects and markets, with a focus on benefit sharing and grievance mechanisms.’ VSPs work was well-received and led to some interesting discussions around data equity.

    Vanga Seagrass Project committee meeting with ACES and funders in attendance
    (c) Anthony Ochieng Onyango

    The VSP presenters discussed the need that to maintain high-integrity projects, the use of biodiversity metrics and measurements that are verifiable and can be audited by third parties is deemed essential for robust and verified biodiversity outcomes by the IAPB and the wider market. However, to produce auditable biodiversity data, many projects (including ours as part of the PV Nature Standard) are focusing on digital data collection methods for monitoring biodiversity and calculating credits.  However, there are risks to using remote and digital monitoring technologies as it shifts biodiversity data away from local communities and towards remote actors, with potential implications for equity and data justice. The Plan Vivo and VSP teams see this as a very relevant governance consideration for many biodiversity crediting projects as digital data collection becomes more prevalent and are working to develop approaches that are both digital and are accessible to local communities. As a result, VSP is being developed in accordance with the available Biodiversity Credit Alliance High-Level Principles to ensure good governance around data sovereignty. The PV Nature Standard and PV pilot projects are working closely with biodiversity data analytics providers and communities to ensure robust auditing can be conducted whilst also ensuring monitoring methods are accessible to the community and that data ownership remains with the local communities.

    The VSP team in action during some biodiversity monitoring trials in conjunction with ACES, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute and Edinburgh Napier University
    (c) Anthony Ochieng Onyango

    Growing interest in high-quality projects

    The hard work of the VSP team has not gone unnoticed, as supporting community-led conservation momentum was a key takeaway for many at the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference earlier this year. The projects involvement with the IAPB has even received international endorsement from the French President! In his speeches, at the Blue Economy and Finance Forum, President Macron praised the work of IAPB’s pilot projects in channelling investment and accelerating the transition to a nature-positive future. This included a reference to the VSP, Where Macron referred to the pilots working in marine ecosystems, including “seagrass meadows in Kenya”. The project is also starting to generate interest among some current carbon credit buyers and philanthropists who already support ACES’ work and are interested in the opportunity to support holistic biodiversity conservation with verified outcomes that also provides wider local benefits.

    President Emmauel Macron’s Blue Economy and Finance Forum speech (c) IAPB

    In addition to the interest in VSP, wider interest in the biodiversity market as a whole is growing. The World Economic Forum has put extensive effort into defining the business use cases for the emerging biodiversity market. A report on demand analysis and market outlook listed 4 key interrelated ways that biodiversity credits could deliver value for companies, 3 of these use-cases had a marketing focus either through brand reputation, product enhancement and quality assurance. Marketing use-cases are a key focus for businesses as they address the emerging societal expectation for businesses to support global nature recovery by voluntarily contributing to tangible, positive outcomes for nature (TBC, 2022). A key focus for businesses to address consumer expectations and develop a marketing advantage is to support the Nature Positive Movement, of which nature markets are a key tool.

    Next steps

    The Vanga Seagrass Project is continuing its development journey through key on-the-ground activities and a strong focus on developing robust metrics and data collection methods for marine environments such as seagrass. The team are also working to identify key innovators, pioneers and leaders who wish to support vital community-led biodiversity conservation work that supports the Ocean Positive Movement. If you are interested in discussing high-integrity biodiversity certificates and wish to capitalise on being an early-market entrant and proactively show you value nature, please do reach out for a no-obligation discussion. To receive a copy of our coveted Biodiversity Brochure for Buyers, please do email aces@aces-org.uk and a copy will be sent to your inbox!

    Vanga Seagrass Project is thankful for the support of ORRAA and Dona Bertarelli Philanthropy.

    Making biodiversity a credit to your business – Part 2 of 2

    Making biodiversity a credit to your business – Part 2 of 2

    28/10/2024 by Amelia Allerton in / / /

    This blog was written by our Project officer, Amelia Allerton. Amelia is responsible for the collaborative development of the seagrass biodiversity project and acts as the project’s technical coordinator. She has a background in biodiversity research within Marine Protected Areas and has experience supporting community projects. In this 2-part blog series, we explore the importance of biodiversity, the emerging market of biodiversity credits and the opportunities they provide for both forward-thinking businesses and nature. We hope you enjoy Part 2!

    Seagrass in Vanga Bay (c) Anthony Ochieng Onyango/ACES

    Welcome to Part 2 of our blog series! 

    We have covered the biodiversity crisis and how important protecting and restoring nature is to our survival and quality of life. Now let’s explore how businesses can join the Nature Positive movement by investing in nature and our futures.

    But how can businesses invest in nature? 

    An emerging market of biodiversity credits are providing an avenue for businesses to tangibly invest in nature. Biodiversity credits are not offsets, but instead are part of the Nature Positive movement. They are meant for the private sector to voluntarily increase their investment in nature conservation and provide an opportunity for forward-thinking companies and business leaders to get ahead of the curve and prove they value nature and people as well as the bottom line. When looking for biodiversity credits to invest in, it is important to ensure credits are verifiable and Free Prior and Informed Consent was granted from the resident communities within a project region. Organisations such as Plan Vivo review, audit and certify biodiversity credits to ensure that what they offer to the market is a positive product that was sourced fairly, ethically and sustainably. By setting a standard that must be met for projects to sell credits, purchasers can rest assured they are buying a trusted product that protects biodiversity, communities and climate. These credits are often referred to as high-integrity biodiversity credits.

    Juvenile fish in the seagrass (c) Dimitris Poursanidis/GRID-Arendal

    What are the business benefits to investing in nature? 

    Investing in biodiversity credits does not have to be a one-sided affair and there are many potential benefits for businesses. 

    As discussed in Part 1, nature and natural resources directly contribute to the economy and global GDP. By investing in nature, businesses can help develop more stable markets that are not as heavily impacted by the uncertainty of dwindling resources, extreme climatic events or unproductive soils. Showing that your business supports biodiversity conservation and recovery also addresses the growing consensus among consumers that businesses shouldn’t just take from the natural world without giving back. By investing in nature from market inception, businesses can set themselves as industry-leaders. Furthermore, as regulatory frameworks develop and Several countries, including Australia, the UK, and Gabon, are already embracing credits and moving to legislate, by voluntarily involving your business in the market early, companies can prove that their business genuinely and proactively supports biodiversity and are not simply reacting to legislative change. 

    By investing in biodiversity credits, your business has the opportunity to innovate and solidify itself as a business leader and forward-thinking company. Purchasing these credits provides new marketing opportunities around your businesses support for the Nature Positive Movement. This provides your company with a competitive advantage and improves brand reputation across your business and products. Ethical company behaviour has a positive relationship with increased brand loyalty so biodiversity credits can be an effective way for connecting with consumers. Furthermore, staff retention and talent attraction is also positively associated with companies with strong ethical values and biodiversity credits can be a tangible way to contribute to your company sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility goals. 

    Overall, businesses have a huge opportunity to address the biodiversity crisis for the benefit of the planet, people and business. Not only is supporting nature the right thing to do, but it can set your company apart as a business-leader.

    If you would like to know more about biodiversity credits or are interested in supporting any of our projects, please do check out our web pages on our Vanga Seagrass Project and biodiversity credits. You can also reach out to the team at aces-org@aces.co.uk, we would love to hear from you!

    New shoots in Vanga Blue Forest (c) Anthony Ochieng Onyango/ACES

    Making biodiversity a credit to your business – Part 1 of 2

    Making biodiversity a credit to your business – Part 1 of 2

    08/10/2024 by Amelia Allerton in / / /

    This blog was written by our Project officer, Amelia Allerton. Amelia is responsible for the collaborative development of the seagrass biodiversity project and acts as the project’s technical coordinator. She has a background in biodiversity research within Marine Protected Areas and has experience supporting community projects. In this 2-part blog series, we explore the importance of biodiversity, the emerging market of biodiversity credits and the opportunities they provide for both forward-thinking businesses and nature. We hope you enjoy Part 1 and Part 2 will be released in late October 2024.

    Merops orientalis, Green Bee-eater in The Gambia (c) Dona Bertarelli Philanthropy

    With the IUCN estimating that $600-800billion of funding is needed to sustain biodiversity, biodiversity credits are a new and exciting innovation that could help nature conservation and restoration address this funding gap. However, for biodiversity crediting to be a success, private sector buy-in is essential. 

    The crisis 

    Across the globe, plant and animal species are disappearing at an ever-faster rate due to human activity. Habitat loss is the main cause, with humans actively destroying vital habitats through deforestation, urbanisation and intensive farming and fishing practices. Further stressors from hunting, over-fishing, man-made pollution, human-introduced invasive species and the climate crisis further threaten the resilience and recovery of many important species and ecosystems. To put this crisis into context, only 4% of all mammals on earth are wild mammals. 

    The consequences of losing biodiversity are far-reaching and severe. As much as our human-centric approach has led to us viewing ourselves as separate from nature, we rely on it with every breath, bite of food and resource we use. Air, water, soil, food, and materials are directly reliant on our planet’s natural processes remaining healthy and in-balance. Exploring some of the benefits of healthy and biodiverse ecosystems can really put into context how important it is that we address this crisis: 

    Mangroves at Sii Island (c) Obiene Samson

    Variety is the spice of life 

    Biodiverse environments support more complex ecosystems, which improves overall resilience. As the number of species and communities grow, there is a higher chance of any one of them having the traits that enable them to adapt to a changing environment. The same is true for resilience against other stressors such as disease and the introduction of pollution into ecosystems. Productive, healthy and biodiverse assemblages are best-placed to try to adapt to changing conditions. 

    The backbone of big business

    Businesses are dependent on nature and the services it provides which are finite and unique. Nature currently contributes to more than half the world’s GDP and not protecting and restoring nature will damage future economic prosperity. After many years of businesses taking resources from the planet without giving back, there is growing consensus among consumers, organisations and regulatory frameworks that the private sector needs to play a part in ensuring we have a healthy, sustainable and biodiverse planet well into the future. For example, at COP15, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was agreed which includes text on the private sector investing in biodiversity. As a result, protecting nature should be high on investors and regulators agendas.

    Supporting health and wellbeing 

    Well-functioning and biodiverse environments support human health by providing nutrition, clean water and medicine. Without pollinators, we will struggle to grow some fruits and vegetables including apples, berries and kale. Biodiverse ecosystems have also played a crucial role in traditional medicines and drug development throughout the years. Ensuring nature is part of our everyday lives is also extremely beneficial for both our mental and physical health. It can help reduce stress, promote improved mood and can help people easily include more physical activity in their lives through activities such as walking and wildlife watching. Biodiversity also plays an important role in disease prevention. By forcing animals to live in closer and closer proximity by removing their habitats and reducing diversity, we have reduced nature’s resilience, increasing the opportunity for diseases to spread. Optimal rates for microbe spillover occur when 40% of the forest cover disappears. In contrast, greater biodiversity reduces disease transmission due to a ‘dilution effect’ making it harder for a single pathogen to spread or dominate. 

    Nature’s unique value

    Biodiversity provides many clear benefits to humans and is essential to our survival, but even despite this, we should still be motivated to protect nature ‘just because’. This planet is absolutely wondrous and full of complicated relationships between plants, animals and ecosystems that all work in harmony to survive and thrive together. We share this planet with intricate creatures who feel pleasure, pain and a desire to survive. Some have strong family bonds or a clear sense of home and some undertake wonderous journeys across the planet that we still can’t fully understand or comprehend. We need to understand how magical biodiversity is and find ways to live peaceably with the natural world. Nature and biodiversity work in harmony to support living thriving ecosystems and we need to find ways to reintegrate ourselves into this glorious and enduring synergy.

    Investment in nature and biodiversity is also an investment into ourselves, our economy, our wellbeing and our futures. Follow along for Part 2 to find out how business can help support and restore global biodiversity. 

    Mudskipper in The Gambia (c) ACES