Indonesia Blue Carbon Community Grant 2025 How to Secure IDR 9 Billion for Mangrove Restoration and Local Livelihoods

If you live or work along Indonesia’s coast and you are serious about mangroves, climate, and community income, this is the kind of opportunity that can change what is possible for your village or coalition.

The Indonesia Blue Carbon Community Grant, backed by the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and aligned with Conservation International and Konservasi Indonesia, is offering up to IDR 9,000,000,000 per community coalition. That is not “plant a few seedlings and hope for the best” money. That is “build a serious, multi-year program that restores mangroves, strengthens local economies, and sets a national example” money.

Indonesia is a global blue carbon heavyweight. Its mangroves and coastal ecosystems lock away billions of tons of carbon and support tens of millions of people who depend directly on nature for food, income, and protection from storms. But those ecosystems only survive if the people living with them can earn a decent living by protecting them, not by clearing them.

That is exactly the tension this grant tries to solve. It is designed for community cooperatives and NGOs who are willing to work hand‑in‑hand with local government, build gender‑responsive governance, and tie mangrove restoration directly to sustainable livelihoods – fisheries, ecotourism, mangrove honey, seaweed farming, carbon projects, or other nature-positive businesses.

This is a serious grant, with serious expectations. You will need a coalition, a plan, and the stamina to run a multi‑year program. But if your community is ready to step up, IDR 9 billion is enough to move your project out of the “nice pilot” category and into “this is changing our coastline” territory.

At a Glance

What This Blue Carbon Grant Actually Offers

The headline number – IDR 9 billion per coalition – is impressive. But what does that buy you in practice?

For most communities, that level of funding can support a multi‑year, multi‑sector program. Imagine a three‑to‑five‑year initiative that includes:

• Large‑scale mangrove restoration and protection – not just planting, but also nurseries, long‑term maintenance, monitoring, and community patrols.
• Real investment into livelihood enterprises linked to healthy mangroves: improved fish landing sites, cold storage, value‑added processing, small ecotourism ventures, or certified sustainable products.
• Training and governance work: strengthening cooperatives, supporting women’s leadership, building transparent benefit‑sharing systems, and upgrading local regulations to protect restored areas.

Because this grant sits in the blue‑carbon space, it is not only about trees and seedlings. It is really about carbon, communities, and cash flow working together. The ideal project reduces emissions or protects carbon‑dense ecosystems while improving incomes and resilience.

Think of it as three budgets intertwined:

1. Nature budget – nurseries, planting, hydrological restoration, monitoring, mapping, and perhaps science partnerships to measure carbon.
2. People budget – training fishers and farmers, supporting women’s groups, youth engagement, local institutions, and governance processes.
3. Business budget – equipment, facilities, branding, early operating costs for viable nature‑based enterprises.

With the right design, this funding can get you out of the trap of “short‑term project, no lasting income” and into “our mangroves are now part of our economic strategy.”

And because this program aligns with organizations like Conservation International and Konservasi Indonesia, there is often indirect access to technical expertise on topics like blue‑carbon accounting, mangrove ecology, and community‑based marine management. You are not just getting money; you are stepping into a broader network that works from Raja Ampat to Java on rainforests, coastal mangroves, fisheries, and self‑sustaining community economies.

Who Should Apply (and Who Probably Should Not)

This grant is not for lone heroes or purely academic studies. It is designed for coalitions rooted in coastal communities that can match big money with real organizing power.

You are likely a strong candidate if:

• You are a community cooperative, local NGO, or indigenous/community organization working in coastal or estuarine areas with existing or degraded mangroves.
• You already have or are formalizing a partnership with local government – a village government, district marine office, or provincial authority that can sign MOUs, issue local regulations, or co‑fund activities.
• Your idea combines ecosystem work with livelihoods. For example:
  • Restoring mangroves linked to improved crab and fish catches and better fish market infrastructure.
  • Mangrove ecotourism run by youth and women’s groups, with clear rules to protect wildlife.
  • Honey, NTFPs, or mangrove-friendly aquaculture with strict no‑conversion rules.
• You are serious about gender‑responsive governance. That means:
  • Women and marginalized groups are not just “invited” but hold decision‑making roles.
  • Benefits (jobs, revenue, training) are tracked and shared fairly.
  • Meeting times, childcare, and communication are set so women can actually participate.

A few concrete profiles that fit well:

• A fisheries cooperative in Sulawesi working with the district government to restore degraded mangroves while setting up a community‑run crab fattening enterprise.
• A local NGO in West Papua partnering with village governments to formalize community marine protected areas, replant mangroves, and build community‑owned guesthouses for low‑impact tourism.
• A women‑led association in Java that wants to turn informal shellfish gathering into a formal, sustainable business tied to mangrove protection, with strong governance rules.

On the other hand, you are probably not a good fit if:

• You only want to do short‑term planting campaigns with no clear plan for maintenance, protection, or livelihoods.
• You cannot show a real partnership with local government – just a vague “we will coordinate with authorities.”
• There is no thought about who benefits, how decisions are made, or how women and vulnerable groups are included.
• Your project is mostly research without community ownership or on‑the‑ground management.

This is a high‑ambition, community‑driven grant. If you are ready to treat it that way, you are in the right place.

Insider Tips for a Winning Application

You are not competing for small change here. With up to IDR 9 billion on the table, you should assume serious competition. That means your application has to do more than tick boxes – it has to tell a convincing, grounded story.

Here are strategies that will actually help:

1. Start with a clear “theory of change” in plain language

Reviewers want to see the chain of cause and effect. Spell it out:

“If we restore X hectares of mangroves and enforce Y local rules, fish biomass will increase, which allows us to support Z new sustainable livelihoods and reduce community pressure on remaining mangroves.”

Avoid vague statements like “this will support climate resilience.” Show step by step how your activities go from planting to income to long‑term protection.

2. Treat livelihoods as central, not an afterthought

Many coastal grants fail because the economic side is weak. In your proposal:

• Name specific products or services (e.g., blue swimming crab, mangrove honey, low‑volume tourism experiences, processed fish snacks).
• Show you have at least basic market knowledge – who buys, at what price, what quality standards.
• Explain how the business model depends on healthy mangroves, not on cutting them down.

If livelihoods are fuzzy, your proposal will look like a restoration project with a nice story. You want the opposite: a serious livelihood program that cannot work without healthy mangroves.

3. Make gender‑responsive governance visible and practical

Do not just write “we will include women.” That line appears in every weak proposal.

Instead, describe specific structures:

• Quotas for women in the cooperative board or project committee.
• Separate consultations with women’s groups to define priorities.
• Budget allocated for childcare during meetings or for training at hours when women can attend.
• Transparent benefit‑sharing rules that are written down and approved in community meetings.

Reviewers will immediately see the difference between a token statement and a designed approach.

4. Use real baselines and targets, not guesses

For mangrove and livelihood work, numbers matter:

• Current mangrove cover (even approximate, from government data, drone mapping, or past studies).
• Degraded areas in hectares and where they are located.
• Current income levels, catch volumes, or employment numbers in target groups.

Then, propose realistic targets: how many hectares restored, how many households gaining new or increased income, how many women in leadership roles, what percentage increase in fish catch or income you expect within the project period.

Reviewers know you are not a fortune teller, but they want to see that you are thinking in numbers, not just adjectives.

5. Show that your coalition already exists in practice

This program is for “community coalitions,” which implies more than a list of logos.

Include evidence that you already know how to work together:

• Past joint activities or small projects with the same partners.
• Existing MOUs or letters of intent with local government.
• Photos, meeting notes, or examples where community groups and government have co‑decided something.

A coalition that only exists on paper, formed last week to chase money, is much less convincing than one with shared history.

6. Address long‑term sustainability honestly

Reviewers hate the “we will find more funding later” sentence with no detail.

Explain what happens after the grant ends:

• Which enterprises will be profitable by then and able to cover their own costs?
• Which local government budgets will take over patrols, monitoring, or restoration maintenance?
• What rules (village regulations, district decrees) will stay in place beyond the project?

Even if not everything is guaranteed, show that you are designing from day one for durability, not dependency.

Application Timeline Backward from 28 July 2025

Do not treat 28 July 2025 as a suggestion. Treat it as a hard wall. Then work backward.

March – April 2025: Build or confirm your coalition
This is when you clarify who is in and who is out. Finalize which community groups, cooperatives, and NGOs will lead which components. Open discussions with local government on roles and possible co‑funding. Start drafting simple agreements or MOUs.

Late April – May 2025: Design the project in detail
Hold community meetings to define priorities. Map target mangrove areas. Identify livelihood options with the greatest potential and least ecological risk. Start the first draft of your workplan, budget, and logical framework (activities, outputs, outcomes).

June 2025: Write, test, and revise the proposal
You should have a full draft by early June. Then test it: talk it through with fishers, women’s groups, youth, and local government. Do they understand it? Does it feel realistic to them? Adjust timelines, responsibilities, and budgets based on this feedback.

Early July 2025: Finalize documents and internal approvals
Most organizations underestimate how long sign‑offs take. Use early July to:

• Get formal signatures from coalition members and government partners.
• Finalize annexes, maps, and letters of support.
• Double‑check that your budget matches your narrative.

Aim to be ready one week before the official deadline.

By 26 July 2025: Submit
Do not push this to the last day. Submission systems fail, internet connections drop, people get sick. Hand in your application at least 48 hours before 28 July 2025 so that any last‑minute problems do not sink months of work.

Required Materials and How to Prepare Them

Exact requirements may vary, but you can safely assume you will need at least the following:

• Project narrative – A clear, structured document describing context, problems, objectives, activities, and expected results. Aim for a narrative that a non‑specialist Indonesian policymaker could understand. Use simple diagrams for your theory of change or project structure.

• Detailed budget and budget notes – Break down costs by component (restoration, livelihoods, governance) and year. In your justification, explain why each cost is necessary and how it contributes to both ecological and social results.

• Organizational profiles – Short descriptions of each coalition member: history, legal status, experience with conservation or livelihoods, and financial management capacity.

• Proof of partnership with local government – This could be letters of support, MOUs, or other documents showing that government is aware of and supports the proposal.

• Maps and technical annexes – If possible, include maps showing project locations, mangrove cover, and key livelihood areas. Annexes can include simple ecological assessments, baseline data, or summaries of community consultations.

• Governance and gender plan – A separate section or annex that explains your decision‑making structure, how community members are represented, and how gender equity will be achieved and tracked.

Prepare these early. Many coalitions get stuck because a single letter, map, or signature is missing when time runs out.

What Makes an Application Stand Out to Reviewers

When reviewers stack applications side by side, they are essentially asking four questions.

1. Is this project strategically important?

They look for projects in areas that clearly matter for carbon, biodiversity, and people. If your site protects major mangrove stands, supports many households, or links to existing conservation areas (for example, near marine protected zones or critical fisheries), highlight that.

Use simple, strong facts: number of households dependent on the area, hectares of mangrove at risk, known species of concern, exposure to storms or sea‑level rise.

2. Is the coalition credible and capable?

Money follows trust. Reviewers will examine:

• Your track record managing grants or community programs.
• Whether your financial systems can handle multi‑year funding.
• The clarity of roles among partners – not everyone running everything, but clear responsibility zones.

Mention past successes: even modest achievements like managing a village fund transparently, running a small pilot with measurable results, or coordinating an effective mangrove patrol system matter.

3. Is the project technically sound?

For mangrove restoration, reviewers want to know:

• You are planting the right species in the right places (not planting where natural regeneration would be better).
• Hydrology and local ecological conditions are understood.
• You have a long‑term maintenance and monitoring plan.

For livelihoods, they want to see basic feasibility: demand exists, production is realistic, and environmental limits are respected.

4. Will benefits be shared fairly and last beyond the grant?

This is where gender‑responsive governance and benefit sharing come in. Clear rules for who gets what – jobs, training, income, access – are a huge plus.

Show mechanisms like:

• Community committees with transparent elections.
• Public posting of budgets and benefit‑sharing formulas.
• Agreements that tie continued access to resources to good conservation behavior.

An application that answers all four questions clearly will stand out immediately.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

A few errors show up again and again in community grant applications. Avoid them and you are already ahead of a big chunk of the competition.

1. Treating mangrove planting as a photo opportunity
If your proposal sounds like a one‑time campaign to put seedlings in the ground, with no maintenance, site selection logic, or monitoring, it will likely end up in the rejection pile. Restoration is long‑term work. Show how you will maintain, protect, and measure success over years.

2. Ignoring local politics and power relations
Every community has power dynamics – who speaks, who decides, who benefits. Applications that pretend everything is harmonious often fall apart during implementation. Acknowledge challenges honestly and show how your governance design deals with them.

3. Vague livelihoods
“Alternative livelihoods” is a phrase that means nothing unless you name specific activities and business plans. Be concrete about products, customers, training needed, and how you will avoid flooding a market or degrading new areas.

4. Gender as a checkbox
Listing “women will participate” without a structure for how they will participate and benefit is a red flag. Reviewers now expect to see gender analysis and concrete actions, not rhetorical gestures.

5. Overambitious geographic spread
Trying to work in ten villages and thousands of hectares with a new coalition is risky. It is often better to choose a smaller area and show you can deliver deep, documented impact that can later be replicated.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Does our coalition have to be formally registered as a new entity?
Not necessarily. In many cases, the grant can be contracted with one lead organization (often an NGO or cooperative) that signs on behalf of a coalition of groups. What matters is that roles are clear, agreements exist, and the lead organization meets the legal and financial criteria.

2. Can we focus only on conservation without a livelihood component?
This opportunity is explicitly framed around mangrove restoration plus sustainable livelihoods. A purely ecological project, no matter how elegant, will likely score lower. You need to show how local people gain tangible, long‑term benefits from keeping these ecosystems intact.

3. Are academic institutions eligible?
Universities and research institutes can be excellent technical partners, particularly for mapping, carbon measurement, or socio‑economic surveys. However, the core eligibility emphasizes community cooperatives or NGOs partnering with local governments. If you are a university, you should position yourself as a supporting partner rather than the face of the coalition.

4. What does “gender‑responsive governance” really mean in practice?
In simple terms, it means designing your project so that women (and other often‑excluded groups) have actual power and benefit – not just symbolic presence. That includes decision‑making roles, targeted training, fair access to economic opportunities, and systems to track and correct inequalities over time.

5. Can we use part of the grant for infrastructure?
Yes, within reason. Infrastructure that strengthens sustainable livelihoods or ecosystem management – small processing facilities, nurseries, basic ecotourism infrastructure, patrol posts, monitoring equipment – can be justified. Large, unrelated construction projects are unlikely to be accepted.

6. How large should the project area be?
There is no single right size. The best area is one where your coalition has real influence, the ecological value is clear, and you can show measurable change within the project period. That might be one or two villages, or a cluster of sites that share an ecosystem and social ties.

7. Is co‑funding required?
Even if it is not formally mandatory, your proposal is stronger if you can show contributions from local government budgets, village funds, or community in‑kind support (labor, land agreements, local patrols). It signals commitment and increases the chances that activities continue beyond the grant.

How to Apply and Next Steps

If you have read this far and your brain is buzzing with ideas for mangrove restoration, blue carbon, and new livelihoods, do not wait.

Your next steps:

1. Visit the official opportunity page and read the most current details, including any specific application forms or templates:
   https://www.conservation.org/places/indonesia

2. Gather your core coalition – at least one community cooperative or NGO and your key local government counterpart. Share this funding opportunity with them and agree on a shared vision.

3. Map your strengths and gaps. Who brings ecological knowledge, who brings business skills, who manages money well, who has community legitimacy? Identify where you might need outside partners (universities, technical NGOs, or private sector allies).

4. Draft a one‑page concept note summarizing your idea: where you will work, which communities are involved, what mangrove and livelihood issues you will tackle, and your expected impact. Use this to pressure‑test the idea with community members and potential partners.

5. Work backward from 28 July 2025 to build your own internal timeline – with deadlines for coalition agreements, community consultations, drafts, and signatures. Treat those internal dates as seriously as the funder’s deadline.

Ready to move from ideas to action?

All official details, updates, and application instructions are available here:
Apply via the official Conservation International Indonesia page

Use the time between now and July 2025 to build a coalition – and a proposal – that your community will still be proud of ten years from now, when your mangroves are taller, your incomes are higher, and your coastline is safer.