Blue Alliance: Strengthening coastal resilience and marine conservation

According to a 2018 report by the World Resources Institute, over 60% of coral reefs in Asia are under immediate threat. Reefs not only provide livelihoods for 100 million people in the region, but also protect low-lying communities from coastal flooding – a risk that’s increasing with climate change.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are designated and operated for long-term conservation of marine resources, ecosystems services or cultural heritage. When well managed and financed, they are essential for replenishing biodiversity and supporting human populations. Benefits include an enhanced food supply, sustainable fishing incomes, nature tourism, shoreline protection and climate resilience.

Unfortunately, many MPAs depend on piecemeal, insufficient, short-term funding and therefore struggle to operate effectively. Mobilising additional funds and revenue models for ocean conservation will be crucial to financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

A key feature of MPAs that have become financially self-sustaining while positively impacting society and ecology is that they are collaboratively managed by private entities as well as governments.

Blue Alliance partnered with governments and “Reef-positive” businesses (RPBs) to reduce specific drivers of reef ecosystem degradation, alleviate poverty in vulnerable communities and contribute financially to MPA management through dividends and/or revenue sharing.

In 2022 Blue Alliance launched a programme to improve the management and financial sustainability of MPAs in the Philippines – home to the world’s third-largest area of coral reef – by fostering the development of innovative RPBs. With a focus on two MPA networks encompassing multiple Filippino MPAs that have been largely inactive since their designation in 2020, the programme is nurturing a pipeline of RPBs that together are expected to generate enough revenues to cover most of each network’s budget.

To provide adequate up-front capital to RPBs, Blue Alliance has developed a financing facility that blends impact loans and catalytic capital, securing USD 3.4 million from impact investors and donors so far.

Blue Alliance’s approach is transformative for MPAs and sets a precedent for impact investment in marine conservation and economic development in the region and worldwide. With the programme’s first phase complete, this project supported by the Swiss Re Foundation will increase the areas of coral reef under effective management, implement the go-to-market strategy for the networks’ five existing RPBs, build a second cohort of at least four RPBs and scale up the blended finance facility by seeking USD3.6m in additional financing from impact investors.

By 2027, Blue Alliance aims to support 22 000 people improve resilience, save 450k tCO2 emissions avoided and protect 8000 km2 of coral reef, with 100 MPAs with improved management and 9 RPBs.

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