Distribution of Benefits from the New Blue Carbon Economy in Indonesia
However, the important question is no longer merely how large Indonesia’s blue carbon potential is. Rather, it is who will enjoy its economic benefits. This is where the discourse on the new blue carbon economy becomes relevant, namely how the blue carbon economy not only serves as an instrument for climate change mitigation but also creates a fair distribution of benefits for coastal communities.
Indonesia truly possesses extraordinary ecological capital. According to a report by the World Resources Institute Indonesia titled The Equitable Blue Carbon Ecosystem for Indonesia’s Coastal Communities (2025), Indonesia holds about 17% of the world’s mangrove and seagrass ecosystems. Indonesia’s mangroves are even estimated to absorb more than 122 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
In addition, in another study titled Blue Carbon Potential of Mangrove Ecosystems and Its Management to Promote Climate Change Mitigation in Indonesia, written by Rahman and colleagues, the total mangrove carbon stock in Indonesia reaches around 3,267 megatonnes of carbon (MtC), with Papua and Kalimantan as the largest contributing regions.
The economic potential from blue carbon is enormous. In the continuously growing global carbon market, coastal ecosystems are no longer viewed merely as conservation areas but as strategic economic assets. Mangrove restoration, seagrass protection, and carbon credit trading are beginning to be positioned as instruments for future climate financing.
The Indonesian government is also strengthening this position. At COP30 in Belém, Brazil, Indonesia launched the Blue Carbon Ecosystem Roadmap and Action Guidelines as an effort to integrate blue carbon into the national carbon economic system.
This step shows that blue carbon is no longer a peripheral agenda but part of Indonesia’s national development strategy and climate diplomacy.
However, behind this optimism lies a fundamental issue that is often overlooked: the distribution of benefits.
Experience from various natural resource-based projects shows that economic gains are often concentrated among political elites, large corporations, or international institutions, while local communities merely become spectators. A similar risk could occur in Indonesia’s blue carbon economy.
Coastal communities such as small-scale fishermen, coastal women, traditional aquaculture farmers, and indigenous communities are precisely the groups that have long guarded mangrove and seagrass ecosystems generation after generation. Ironically, they often lack tenure certainty, access to carbon markets, or the technical capacity to participate in modern carbon economy schemes.
Yet, the success of blue carbon heavily depends on local communities. Mangroves cannot be maintained solely through central regulations or international carbon investments. They live alongside the social-economic activities of coastal communities.
Therefore, the new blue carbon economy should not only talk about absorbed carbon but also about ecological and economic justice.
First, benefit distribution must be community-based (community-based benefit sharing). Blue carbon trading schemes need to ensure that a significant portion of the revenue returns to local communities in the form of direct income, coastal village infrastructure, education, and local economic strengthening. Without this mechanism, blue carbon will only become a new form of green extractivism.
Second, the state needs to clarify the management rights of coastal communities. Many mangrove areas in Indonesia are under state forest status, while communities have long lived and depended economically on those areas. If rights certainty is not resolved, the potential for social conflict in blue carbon projects will increase.
Third, the development of the blue carbon economy must not sacrifice the traditional economic activities of communities. There is a tendency in some conservation projects to be overly focused on carbon absorption, thereby restricting fishermen or local communities’ access to their living spaces. Such an approach risks creating a new “carbon colonialism” in coastal areas.
In fact, blue carbon could become a pathway to strengthen the people’s economy if designed inclusively. Mangroves, for example, not only store carbon but also support fisheries, protect coasts from abrasion, and bolster coastal ecotourism. In other words, the benefits of blue carbon are multidimensional, both ecologically, economically, and socially.
Indonesia also needs to be cautious of the trap of “carbon commodification”. When ecosystems are valued solely based on their carbon price, the socio-cultural values of coastal communities risk being marginalised. The sea and coasts are not merely global emission absorbers but living spaces for millions of Indonesians.
In this context, the new blue carbon economy paradigm should move beyond the sole logic of the carbon market. Its main focus should not just be creating carbon credits for trading but building fair, sustainable, and democratic coastal governance.
Indonesia has the opportunity to become a world leader in the blue carbon economy. But that leadership cannot be measured merely by the extent of mangroves or the size of carbon potential. True leadership is seen in the ability to ensure that the benefits of the green economy are truly felt by the coastal communities who have been the main guardians of Indonesia’s marine ecosystems.
If not, the new blue carbon economy will only become the new face of the old green economy: green in reports, but unequal in the field.