BlueYou
Location
Indonesia
Sector
Climate resilience and adaptation
Type of investment
Grant
Project stage
Test & Transition
Length of Investment
2025 - 2028
Website
Investment Overview
BlueYou is transforming degraded shrimp ponds in Indonesia through Integrated Mangrove Aquaculture (IMA). This nature-based model restores mangroves within existing ponds while enabling sustainable shrimp, fish, and crab production. By naturally improving water quality and coastal ecosystems, IMA boosts yields, doubling incomes while strengthening climate resilience and biodiversity.
The Development Challenge
Widespread loss of mangroves in Indonesia has weakened coastal protection, harmed water quality, and made it hard for smallholder farmers to make a living. The country, once home to a quarter of the world’s mangroves, has already lost more than 1.5 million hectares.
For years, clearing mangroves was seen as a way for smallholder farmers to expand their ponds and earn more from shrimp farming. But without mangroves to filter the water and support natural food systems, pond conditions have deteriorated.
Today, around 300,000 hectares of ponds are producing far less than they once did, and some have been abandoned entirely. As the mangroves disappear, coastal communities are facing stronger waves, erosion, and rising seas, losing both a source of protection and a foundation for local livelihoods.
The Innovation
Through Integrated Mangrove Aquaculture (IMA), BlueYou is bringing mangroves back to Indonesia’s degraded shrimp ponds. Mangroves naturally improve water quality and habitats, driving higher yields of seafood without feed, chemicals, or major infrastructure changes.
By linking restored farms to premium markets for certified seafood, farmers earn more from the same ponds while coastal ecosystems recover. Early results show improved pond productivity and four times higher incomes.
Beyond ecological and economic gains, restored mangroves sequester significant carbon and enhance biodiversity, creating a triple-win for the environment, climate, and livelihoods.
Our investment
GIF has provided a grant of $803K to BlueYou to support the scale-up of IMA in Indonesia. The funding will enable BlueYou to develop a carbon project to unlock financial resources for scaling and generate rigorous scientific evidence on the carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and socio-economic impacts of IMA systems to encourage replication.
BlueYou in numbers
hectares already restored
yield increase with 2X income increase for early adopters in Indonesia
harvest yield increase with 4X income boost in Vietnam