Project Summary
Countries: Malaysia
Delivery Partner: The University of Manchester
Project Partners: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Mangrove Research Unit (MARU), Institute of Oceanography and Environment (INOS), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), University of Warwick, Cardiff University School of Mathematics , PENANG INSHORE FISHERMEN WELFARE ASSOCIATION (PIFWA)
Principal Investigator: Dr Aarti Krishnan, Developmental Economist, University of Manchester
Challenge
REVIVE builds scalable, evidence-based pathways for just restoration in Malaysia. Mangroves buffer storms, sustain fisheries, and store carbon, yet top-down, science-only restoration have seldom delivered self-sustaining models that balance climatebiodiversity with fair livelihoods. Also, value chains draw on mangrove resources, but channel rents to intermediaries, leaving communities in low-skill roles facing trade-offs exacerbating social inequality and ecological loss.
REVIVE develops and tests hybrid co-governance that couples community participation (CP)-voice in decisions, grievance redress, shared monitoring with value chain (VC) upgrading into highervalue diversified products/services. We track impacts using three measures: Just Restoration Index (carbon, social, economic); Restoration Stewardship Index (collective capacity and agency); and a Restoration Imaginaries Index (shared future visions), alongside explicit trade-off analysis.
Working in Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve (MMFR), Sungai Acheh & Sungai Chenaam (SASCM), and Setiu Wetlands (SWMT) we run a RCT (Control; CP; CP+VC) integrated with habitatsuitability, blue-carbon modelling, co-production, digital ethnography, and agent-based modelling to identify CP×VC configurations that are effective and equitable.
Outputs include a Restorative Business Model Canvas, reporting app, open maps/datasets/code, policy and industry briefs, Community of Practice for scale-out. Communities (especially women and youth) gain agency, better jobs; state forestry/NGOs/ certifiers gain auditable metrics and evidence; firms gain ESG opportunities; donors gain carbon and justice baselines, supporting transformational change.
More on the project will be added soon.
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