Towards a Blue Future: The Philippines NBCAP Kicks-Off!

The Philippines successfully launched its National Blue Carbon Action Partnership (NBCAP) last Wednesday, February 26, 2025. Blue carbon ecosystems experts, advocates, and stakeholders gathered together at the Philippine NBCAP kick-off to initiate the development of a national roadmap for blue carbon ecosystem conservation initiatives. The roadmap will be created in close collaboration with various sectors and alongside possible pathways for finance. National efforts for blue carbon conservation and restoration should align with the country’s commitment to international biodiversity and climate agreements, particularly the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Blue carbon conservation and restoration is a global problem that demands locally and regionally defined nature-based solutions. Invited academic experts, including Dr. Severino Salmo III of UP Diliman, Dr. Dixon Gevaña of UP Los Baños, and Dr. Yasmin Primavera-Tirol of Aklan State University, highlighted the lack of blue carbon scientific data and methodologies in the country despite decades of research. The NBCAP Steering Committee promises a multi-sectoral approach in developing high-impact and high-integrity blue carbon restoration programs to address this gap.