A dedicated homepage to this project has been developed.

See here

The Principles for a Code of Conduct for the Management and Sustainable Use of Mangrove Ecosystems (‘the Principles’) is a draft document commissioned by the World Bank as one of several studies under a Bank-Netherlands Partnership programme on the conservation of coastal biodiversity (“Mainstreaming Conservation of Coastal Biodiversity through Formulation of a Code of Conduct for Sustainable Management of Mangrove Ecosystems”) . The draft document is intended to serve as a guide to assist States, local and national non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders to cooperatively develop local codes, laws and/or regulations to protect mangroves, and the critical functions they serve, through sustainable management.

The first draft of the Principles was completed in 2003, based on a desk review of mangrove ecosystem management ( Macintosh DJ and Ashton EC, 2002. “A Review of Mangrove Biodiversity Conservation and Management”) , plus consultations with mangrove experts, governmental and NGO representative at three regional workshops covering South and Southeast Asia, Africa and the Americas. The first phase of this work, from 2001 to 2003, was also supported by additional scientific knowledge and management experiences prepared in the form of case studies from 14 selected countries in Africa, South America and the Asia-Pacific. At a final review workshop held at the World Bank in Washington in September 2003, it was agreed to continue this work, particularly by engaging NGOs and mangrove users more directly in the consultation process.

Since beginning the work in 2001, the main players have been cenTER Aarhus, ISME, Ramsar and the World Bank, supported by information and advice from mangrove experts from the three main tropical regions of Africa, South America and Asia-Pacific. During the period 2004 to 2006, several NGOs became more involved, namely the Mangrove Action Project (MAP), Terramar, Red Manglar, Thailand Environment Institute (TEI), the Red Cross Vietnam, CARE Vietnam, MS Swaminathan Foundation (India) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Corporation (SEAFDEC), a regional intergovernmental agency also participated actively in the on-going debate during 2006 and helped the consultants to include Indonesia in the consultation process.