Thailand switches to carbon credits for mangroves despite skepticism

Watchara Kumpai, 68, spends most of his time in boots, stomping through the mangrove forests on the coast of southern Thailand.

He worked in tin mining and logging, which contributed to the loss of mangrove forests, until all mangrove concessions were revoked in 1991. Today, Watchara is committed to restoring and protecting these vital ecosystems in Ranong Province, as Thailand aims to restore 500,000 rai (80,000 hectares) of carbon credits by 2031.

Bang Rin subdistrict, where Watchara lives, was among the first of 98 communities to join Thailand’s Coastal Community Mangrove for Carbon Credit program in March 2023. His conservation group protects mangrove patches across three villages in the subdistrict and has so far registered 1,881 rai (301 hectares) of mangrove to generate carbon credits.

“The project is good because we receive additional money that the communities can spend on restoring the mangrove forests,” says Watchara.

After 30 years of concessions for mining, charcoal production and shrimp farming, Watchara and the communities have filled the mud with young trees.

However, just 60km away, a deep-water port is being planned on Thailand’s Andaman Sea coast. It will be connected by a six-lane, 90km highway to a future port on the Gulf of Thailand. The project, dubbed a “land bridge,” will allow cargo to bypass the Strait of Malacca and is the centerpiece of the government’s efforts to transform southern Thailand into an industrial hub. Some environmentalists worry that the peninsula and its mangrove restoration projects will be hijacked by highly polluting companies as part of their greenwashing plans.

As global demand for corporate emissions offsets grows, controversy has emerged over the effectiveness of Thailand’s carbon credit trading scheme in incentivising companies to reduce their carbon emissions.

Mangrove forests for the carbon market

Thailand launched its voluntary domestic carbon market in 2015, the same year the Paris Climate Agreement was adopted.

Six years later, at the UN climate conference in Glasgow, the Paris rulebook was finalized, providing a path forward for international trading of carbon emissions. At the same event, Thailand announced its goal of net zero greenhouse gases by 2065.

Under the country’s current policy, forests will play a key role in achieving this, with plans to absorb 120 million tonnes of carbon by 2037. Studies estimate that mangrove forests store three to five times more carbon than a comparable area of ​​tropical forest, making Thailand’s southern mangrove forests a major carbon sink.

“Mangroves can thrive in our climate and expand continuously, unlike inland forests that can reach the limits of the land surface,” Chawalit Charoenpong, a marine scientist at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, told Dialogue Earth. “They can also store carbon in their trunks and sediments,” he added. “So we can say that Thailand has potential in blue carbon.”

Bang Rin’s forests sit right next to the vast mangroves and muddy waterways of Mu Ko Ranong National Park. These forests are a major carbon sink and are key to Thailand’s net-zero ambitions (Image: Luke Duggleby)

In 2022, Thailand’s Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) launched a project to invite private companies, including oil and gas conglomerates, to invest in mangrove planting and protection to earn carbon credits. The following year, a new initiative, the Coastal Community Mangrove for Carbon Credit program, was introduced to engage coastal communities as frontline defenders by harnessing the mature mangroves in their neighborhoods.

The initiative encourages private companies to invest in carbon credit evaluation and pay communities for their conservation efforts. In exchange for protecting and restoring mangroves for 30 years, communities receive THB 450 per rai (USD 78/hectare) in the first year and THB 200 per rai (USD 35/hectare) thereafter.

For example, the Bang Rin Conservation Group, with its 301 hectares, will receive an annual average of THB 391,875 (USD 10,752) over 30 years. In addition, the group was paid THB 200,000 (USD 5,545) upon signing the contract, to be used for community development programs.

But conservationists say the plan would allow private sector outsiders to exploit mature mangrove forests – resources that communities have cared for years – for “greenwashing” purposes.

The defense of mangrove forests in Thailand has a history of conflict. In 1993, a local conservation officer was shot dead by a shrimp farming mafia. Today, the Peerasak Adisornprasert forest named after him is part of Bang Rin’s carbon credit project.

DMCR told Dialogue Earth that more communities are interested in participating in Thailand’s carbon credit program. The contract signed by communities and seen by Dialogue Earth outlines that they will receive a 20 percent share of the carbon credits generated by the mangroves, while DMCR gets 10 percent and private companies the remaining 70 percent.

According to Chawalit, the marine scientist, measuring and monitoring carbon absorption is still a technical challenge, but he believes experts and authorities can support the community so they can participate more in this process.

Currently, Thailand has registered 215,348 rai (34,456 hectares) of mangroves for carbon credits. The process to certify carbon credits from the mangrove project for offsets and trading is ongoing, but in the meantime, the DMCR has doubled its goal of expanding mangroves in the program, the department’s director-general, Pinsak Suraswadi, told Dialogue Earth.

A fair share of the forest

Racing against the tide, Bao Ningrawee collects crab traps he set the day before in the mangrove forests of Ban Tha Chang, a village in Ranong. He sells mangrove crabs to support his four children, who, like him, are stateless and lack basic rights, such as access to formal employment. With few options available to him, crab fishing offers a lifeline.

This crab trap is empty. But Bao says he is grateful despite the hard work and fluctuating income. After deducting the cost of fuel for the boat, he earns about THB12,000 a month (USD332), and can earn more than the minimum wage.

Bao Ningrawee wriggles through the deep mud at low tide to lay crab traps among the tangle of mangrove roots (Photo: Luke Duggleby)

He will return at high tide to collect them, remembering their exact locations despite the lack of markers (Image: Luke Duggleby)

The Coastal Community Mangrove for Carbon Credit program states that “community members can forage in a sustainable manner, according to their community practices, without harming biodiversity or impacting the environment in the project area”.

But the vague language is raising concerns for Bao and others who rely on the mangroves for food and livelihood. Here in Ranong, near the Myanmar border, many locals like Bao are undocumented.

The mangrove wood is also essential to these communities, who use it to build houses and make fishing equipment, such as fish drying tables. “Communities have proven that we can use the wood in our traditional lives without destroying the forest,” says Pichet Pandam, a local leader of a conservation group in Phuket Province. “But the carbon credit project focuses on protecting the trees. We wouldn’t be able to touch them without being punished.”

In June 2023, Pichet found his mangrove community, Bang Rong, on the carbon credit register without prior consultation. Unsure of the negative impacts of corporatization of the mangrove, his community withdrew.

Communities are also concerned about the growing potential for land disputes with conservation authorities. As part of Thailand’s plan to restore forests across the country, tracts of land have recently been reclaimed by the government and designated as carbon credit mangrove areas. NGOs say shrimp farmers who owned land in these areas have subsequently been accused of trespassing and their land has been confiscated.

Greenwashing or win-win?

Thailand’s parliament is drafting its first climate change law, partly to establish legal mechanisms for the emerging carbon credit market.

The law will recognize carbon credits as a mechanism to address emissions. Under the current draft, credits will be tradable to offset up to 15% of a company’s emissions, allowing companies to buy credits when they can’t fully decarbonize.

The law has sparked a debate over the role pro-market solutions should play in Thailand’s energy transition. Supporters believe carbon credits can deliver realistic change, but watchdogs warn they could lead to greenwashing by big polluters.

“Carbon credits are a distraction from the real solutions to climate change,” says Pichet, who fears the mechanism will shift responsibility away from companies. “If communities participate in this mischievous project, we are part of the henchmen hired to grow trees for greenwashing.”

The law is expected to be passed in September this year, when the cabinet will also review the bill to support the land bridge project and large-scale industrial expansion in southern Thailand.

Fishermen from Bang Rin prepare mangrove crabs they have caught for sale by tying their legs and claws. Communities often rely on the natural resources their mangroves provide (Image: Luke Duggleby)

DMCR’s Pinsak tells Dialogue Earth that the mangrove logging for carbon credits program is optional and that he believes carbon credits have more benefits than drawbacks.

“The authorities get a rich forest without spending the national budget. Meanwhile, the communities can use natural resources and (receive) financial support, and the private companies get their carbon credits,” he says. “I see it as a win-win situation.”