What is the Mangrove Alliance for Climate, and what does it aim to achieve?

Spearheaded by the UAE in partnership with Indonesia, MAC was launched at the COP27 Summit in Egypt to scale up and accelerate the conservation and restoration of the mangrove forests

Dubbing mangrove forests the "most productive ecosystems" of the world, India on Tuesday joined the Mangrove Alliance for Climate (MAC) at the 27th Summit of the Conference of Parties (COP27) at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. UAE, Indonesia, Australia, Japan, Spain and Sri Lanka are the other MAC supporters.

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav said that the mangroves can absorb four to five times more carbon emissions than the tropical forests and can help create new carbon sinks.

"India can contribute to the global knowledge base due to its extensive experience in mangrove restoration, studies on