Sri Lanka to benefit from Blue Climate Fund

Japan’s Sojitz Corporation and Nippon Trading East have pledged to start a Blue Climate Fund to be implemented by Worldview International Foundation (WIF) and its community partners in Asia, Africa and Middle East.

Large Japanese corporations in the lead are making Sri Lanka a primary investment target in this initiative.

The initial capital of USD 25 million will be increased according to the needs. The fund targets support planting of 25,000 hectares of mangroves in Sri Lanka in partnership with Supreme Global Holdings Ltd.

Omar Qandeel of Nippon Trading Est. and Sojitz Corporation of Japan launched the Blue Carbon Fund by signing an MOU with WIF recently in support of the UN Climate Agreement and the UN Sustainable Goals.

The fund’s first investment will be in Sri Lanka in partnership with Supreme Global Holdings who will disburse the funds and execute the

project through its wholly own subsidiary ‘Mangrove Conservation & Restoration (Pvt) Ltd.

It is a dedicated impact investment fund to focus on mangrove restoration and conservation, in addition to blue carbon sea grass conservation and seaweed planting and harvesting for maximum climate impact.

The fund plans to grow with multiple jurisdictions thus catering to mitigate global climate change through the development of Blue Carbon in support of the UN Paris Climate Agreement and UN Sustainable Development Goals.

‘This is inspiring news for millions of people around the globe, says Dr. Arne Fjortoft, Secretary General of WIF.

“During the last 12 years, WIF has developed and implemented large mangrove restoration projects with record high 96% survival rate of plants. Mangroves are the most effective natural climate change mitigators. Additional resources available in 2022 by Japanese corporations, will be available to expand further to every region of the world with potential for mangrove restoration to meet urgent needs with immediate climate action.”

Dr. Arne Fjorsoft is a well known name for climate initiatives and has contributed to the Sri Lankan economy for the past many decades starting from establishing the ‘C-Nor’ Foundation. He has already established over 120,000 Hectares of mangroves in Myanmar and is now expanding aggressively in the region starting with Sri Lanka.

Sojitz Corporation is an integrated global trading company with an approximate revenue of $15 billion. Headquartered in Tokyo, Sojitz Corporation consists of some 400 subsidiaries and affiliates located in Japan and throughout the world. Developing wide-ranging general trading company operations in a multitude of countries and regions with over 20,000 employees, Sojitz Group has established new policies and targets to fulfil its commitment towards realizing a decarbonized society.

As announced in Sojitz’s long-term sustainability vision for 2050,

“Sustainability Challenge is to create sustainable growth for both Sojitz and society by working to help achieve a decarbonized society through our business activities, and by responding to human right issues, including those within our supply chains,” says Sojit Corporation in its corporate statement.