In general, mangroves play a vital role in mitigating climate change-intensified weather hazards through carbon sequestration and flood protection. This is especially true for Pakistan, but within the country’s capital city of Karachi, only one mangrove forest remains, leaving communities and agriculture increasingly vulnerable to drought, heatwaves, and flooding risks.

Now, a private venture capital group Indus Delta Capital and local developers have joined forces to change this. Together, they are working to protect and restore approximately 865,000 acres of coastal wetland in and around Karachi through a program called Delta Blue Carbon. Once completed, the restoration and new plantings from Delta Blue Carbon will be capable of sequestering around 150 million tonnes of carbon over 60 years.

When it comes to carbon sequestration, mangrove forests are an immensely powerful and very effective nature-based solution. They are capable of storing up to 10 times more carbon than terrestrial forests. Despite only occupying a mere 0.1% of Earth’s shorelines, they sequester enough CO2 to offset two years of China’s emissions. Further, when looking at 59 countries with mangroves, scientists estimate that by reducing flood and storm surge risks, the forests provide relief to approximately 15 million people and prevent more than $65 billion in property damages annually.