The “Sustainable Use of Mangroves in the WIO Region” project, funded by BMZ through WWF Germany, brings Tanzania’s dormant mangrove laws to life. In Kilwa and Pemba, the project supported villages and shehias to register or revitalize Village Natural Resources Committees (VNRCs) and Community Forest Management Areas (CoFMAs). Within 2 years of the project, 7 CoFMAs were established and 2 revived in Pemba; 3 VNRCs were established and 3 revived in Kilwa District. The project capacitated these local mangrove management institutions to develop and enforce mangrove management plans, establish nurseries, and launch restoration and monitoring efforts to recover degraded mangrove zones and address drivers of loss. While VNRCs and CoFMAs are now leading mangrove conservation and management in their areas, two and three mangrove CBOs were established in Pemba and Kilwa, respectively, and are now operational. This scalable solution shows that when laws move from paper to practice, blue forests and coastal livelihoods thrive together.