Women Restoring Mangroves Through Circular Oyster Farming

Natural Aceh

South Asia

2026

Project Summary

Natural Aceh is a women-led social enterprise rebuilding post-tsunami coastal communities in Aceh, Indonesia, through circular oyster farming and mangrove restoration. The project supports 811 low-income women oyster gatherers across 8 coastal districts. Used tires and discarded plastic gallons are transformed into 1,980 oyster collectors, reducing pressure on mangrove ecosystems while increasing oyster productivity.

Women who previously spent up to 8 hours collecting oysters manually can now harvest in around 1 hour, while tripling their weekly income. The initiative protects 11 hectares of mangrove ecosystem and encourages community-led replanting to improve coastal resilience and water quality. Natural Aceh also produces certified oyster-based food products and develops eco-tourism and environmental education with support from universities and local government agencies.

Presentation of the Organization

Baeru Coast Clear, based in Udupi, Karnataka and operational since 2023, builds compliance and verification infrastructure for coastal plastic recovery. Its technology lets coastal workers log recovery in their own languages, uses AI to classify and verify the material, and turns each event into an auditable chain-of-custody record. It runs India’s first rural coastal Material Recovery Facility under a long-term MoU with the Government of Karnataka. Its flagship project is the Coastal Compact.