NatConnect Foundation’s B.N. Kumar pitches a Green–Blue Carbon Coalition to measure, verify and certify the state’s natural carbon
MUMBAI, September 27: B.N. Kumar, Director of NatConnect Foundation, said on Sunday that Maharashtra could set up a Carbon Bank by bringing its large natural carbon assets under a common Green–Blue Carbon Coalition.
He presented the proposal at the Bamboo Economy & Sustainability Summit 2026 in Mumbai. The framework, he said, would bring mangroves, wetlands, bamboo and other green ecosystems onto one platform for systematic measurement, verification and certification, and for generating carbon credits.
The numbers show why the idea is worth serious attention:
- Mangroves: about 31,509 hectares
- Wetlands: about 11.53 lakh hectares, as recorded in the national wetland inventory
- Bamboo: 4,04,817 hectares, according to the Maharashtra Forest Department’s latest remote-sensing and GIS assessment
Kumar said these ecosystems should be valued not only for what they do for the environment but also as measurable climate assets. The coalition’s work would run in four stages:
- identify carbon-rich landscapes
- measure the carbon they store and absorb
- have the data credibly verified
- help create certified carbon assets that can enter the market
The proposed Maharashtra Carbon Bank would bring nature conservation, carbon finance, rural livelihoods and climate action onto a single platform. Where appropriate, income from emerging carbon markets would be used to protect and restore ecosystems and to fund conservation that involves local communities.
For farmers, the bamboo figure matters most. More than four lakh hectares of bamboo, much of it on farm bunds, private land and forest fringes, could in time become a source of carbon income, if measurement and certification reach the village level.
The Green–Blue Coalition, Kumar said, could build an institutional bridge between Maharashtra’s natural wealth and the emerging carbon economy.