GFCR-Backed Multi-Country Blue Alliance MPA Investment Model Expands Impact in Indonesia

March 2026 – A landmark long-term co-management agreement in Indonesia has been announced to protect and sustainably manage 1.5 million hectares of marine conservation areas in one of the world’s most biodiverse seascapes.

This agreement between the Provincial Government of Maluku and the Blue Alliance Indonesia Foundation represents a concrete country-level expression of the Blue Finance model in action; translating blended finance, long-term partnership, and reef-positive economic development into durable, locally led marine stewardship. GFCR's partnership with Blue Alliance in the Philippines and Pemba has contributed to developing and validating the Blue Alliance's blended finance model and institutional capacity that underpin its expansion in Indonesia.

Building on a national foundation for scalable impact

Across Indonesia, GFCR already supports the effective management of more than 368,000 hectares of coral reef ecosystems, working with trusted partners across globally significant seascapes, including the Bird’s Head Seascape, Lesser Sunda Seascape, and Eastern Indian Ocean Seascape. Priority MPAs supported include Savu Sea National Park (Nusa Tenggara Timur), Berau MPA (East Kalimantan), and Lingga MPA (Kepulauan Riau).

Blue Alliance's Maluku co-management partnership into one of Indonesia’s most ecologically critical and socio-economically vulnerable regions represents the collective momentum toward scalable finance and governance models applied at seascape scale.

Signed on 12 February 2026, the agreement establishes a long-term, exclusive partnership for the collaborative management of six conservation areas and associated Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs):

• Romang MPA
• Damer MPA
• Tanimbar MPA
• South Buru MPA
• Kur Tayando Tam MPA
• Lucipara MPA

Together, these sites form one of the largest integrated marine conservation management initiatives in Eastern Indonesia.

Linking conservation finance to livelihoods and resilience

Approximately 55% of the population, around 130,000 people, live below the extreme poverty line across the Maluku region. Through direct employment, sustainable fisheries, and reef-positive livelihood initiatives, Blue Alliance aims to relieve pressure on marine ecosystems while improving long-term socioeconomic resilience.

This partnership marks a significant step forward in advancing effective, locally led, and financially sustainable MPA management, reflecting the same principles underpinning the Blue Finance facility: patient capital, participatory governance, and conservation economies that generate lasting value for both nature and people.

Blended finance as the engine for long-term stewardship

Through its blended finance approach, GFCR mobilises public, philanthropic, and private capital to protect coral reef ecosystems while supporting sustainable ocean economies. Blue Alliance launched Blue Finance, an impact debt facility in partnership with the Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR) and BNP Paribas to strengthen Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in developing states. GFCR’s catalytic support has helped unlock investment, strengthen governance capacity, and lay the foundations for long-term financial sustainability in MPAs—moving beyond short-term grant dependency toward sustainable conservation finance.

This partnership illustrates how innovative finance mechanisms, combined with public and philanthropic engagement, can help scale marine conservation through solutions that are both economically viable and socially inclusive.

Ecological significance at global scale

Located within the Coral Triangle and aligned with the 50 Reefs Initiative, (https://www.50reefs.org/) Maluku sits in a globally important marine biodiversity hotspot. The MPA network protects extensive coral reefs, endemic species, and critical habitat for mantas, endangered sharks, threatened turtles, and the critically endangered Napoleon fish, alongside more than 25 species of groupers.

Effective long-term management of these 1.5 million hectares will:

• Regenerate coral reef biodiversity
• Strengthen ecosystem resilience to climate change
• Safeguard ecosystem services essential to coastal livelihoods

As climate pressures intensify across tropical reefs, protecting and financing systems like those in Maluku is increasingly recognised as essential for global coral reef survival.

Designed for permanence

The Maluku model is built for longevity. Over time, conservation areas will develop their own financial engines—including sustainable fisheries and blue carbon opportunities—enabling management beyond traditional donor funding. In this model, donor and concessional finance act as catalysts rather than permanent fuel, helping establish self-sustaining conservation economies.

Scaling ocean conservation in Indonesia

Indonesia hosts some of the world’s largest and most biodiverse coral reef systems. Initiatives such as the Maluku co-management partnership show how long-term public-private collaboration, anchored in innovative finance mechanisms like Blue Finance, can accelerate progress toward national marine protection goals while strengthening climate resilience and livelihoods.

By complementing GFCR’s existing portfolio across Indonesia’s priority seascapes, the Maluku partnership advances efforts to regenerate the ocean at scale—for people and nature.

About the Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR)

Co-led by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR) is the world’s leading multilateral coral reef finance platform, mobilising public and private capital toward the protection and effective management of the world’s most climate-resilient reef systems. Backed by a public-private coalition of states, UN agencies, financial institutions, philanthropies, impact investors, conservation actors, and civil society, GFCR blends grants, concessional and risk-tolerant instruments, and private investment to help shift markets toward reef-positive outcomes across 22 coral nations. By 2030, GFCR aims to support at least 400 business and finance solutions, improve management across 3 million hectares of climate-resilient reefs, and contribute to strengthened resilience for 20 million people.

Dive deeper at www.GlobalFundCoralReefs.org and follow the action #ForCoral LinkedIn and YouTube.

About Blue Alliance:

Blue Alliance actively manages large Marine Protected Areas to regenerate coral reefs and grows a blue economy that lifts surrounding fishing communities out of poverty in the world’s most biodiverse and resilient regions.

Blue Alliance are also implementing a proven financing model that enables large MPAs to secure sustainable revenue streams and gradually reduce dependence on donors.

Because local communities and the planet’s biodiversity are losing their coral reefs, we help both people and wildlife thrive, securing a healthy ocean for generations to come. Our approach shows how people and nature can thrive together in a shared seascape.

Blue Alliance is focusing on the big-picture challenge of building effectively managed and self-sustained large MPAs or seascapes, at scale.