Center allows people to get up close with mangroves

Center allows people to get up close with mangroves

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Suwung, Bali

Ratih treaded carefully around the dry, sharply pointed shrub
before slowly descending into the muddy ground.

With six young mangrove plants filling both hands, keeping her
balance in the rugged terrain was not an easy task for the high
school student.

Naturally, she could not hide her joy when she made it into
the designated spot without falling down or getting stuck in the
mud, as one of her fellow students did.

Soon afterward, she put the plants in the ground with a
youthful vigor that was matched only by her lively chatter and
girlie giggling with her friends.

"We love this event, it gives us a good excuse to get wet and
dirty," she said.

Ratih was a participant at a mangrove planting event held on
Tuesday at the Mangrove Information Center in Suwung, south
Denpasar. Around 100 volunteers showed up, including high school
students, NGO activists, police officers and four Navy sailors,
who displayed outstanding stamina and skill in navigating the
swampy terrain.

The event was part of the Mangrove Fair, held from July 24
through July 31. The first of its kind, the event was aimed at
increasing public awareness of the importance of mangrove
rehabilitation and conservation.

"Mangroves play an essential role in preventing erosion and
sustaining the coastal ecosystem," said head of the center's
information department Arief Mahmud.

The fair featured a variety of events including poster and
photo exhibitions, a concert and a cookery demonstration.

"We are aiming to attract a wide range of people. For example,
the concert is for young people and the cooking demo for
housewives," he said.

Needless to say, the demo attracted a flock of housewives, who
wanted to know how to cook mangrove fruit, well-known for their
bitterness, into delicious delicacies. Experienced chefs from the
Indonesian Mangrove Foundation later showed how to transform api-
api fruit (Avicennia marina) and pidada (Sonneratia caseolaris)
into mouth-watering cakes and sweets.

During the fair, the center also launched its Mangrove Foster
Parents program. Individuals could express their concern for
mangrove conservation by adopting a plant.

"The adoption fees range from Rp 500,000 to Rp 1 million per
plant," he said.

The adopter was entitled to a certificate of adoption, regular
reports on the condition of the adopted plant and, most
important, many opportunities to become directly involved in the
care and development of the plants.

Rehabilitation facility
The center was a result, in 1992, of intergovernmental
cooperation between the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry and the
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Its main responsibility, back then, was to research the most
viable technologies and methods of rehabilitating mangrove
forests in Indonesia. By 1999, the center had achieved that
objective, finding several new technologies and producing a
manual on mangrove rehabilitation.

Since then, the center has been disseminating the new
technologies to government officials and environmental activists
from every corner of the country.

"We have held at least 20 major training sessions and
workshops for government officials who came from as far afield as
Aceh and Papua. The participants range from technical officers to
policy makers, including regents and legislators," Mahmud said.

The center has also held numerous smaller training sessions,
targeting school teachers and students.

The center's spacious seeding and nursery facility can
currently produce up to 400,000 young mangrove plants per year.

"Yet, realized production ranges from 50,000 to 100,000, as
the total demand is rarely above that level," Mahmud said.

Most of the young plants go to the Ministry of Forestry's
mangrove rehabilitation programs and various mangrove-planting
events organized by regional governments, charity organizations
and NGOs.

Today, the 1373.5-hectare center hosts a dense mangrove forest
containing at least 34 species. Indonesia, reportedly, has around
101 different species of mangrove.

Tourist attraction

Recently, the center attracted a reasonable number of visitors
-- foreign as well as domestic -- and gradually became one of the
island's new tourist destination.

"On average, there are 4,000 visitors per month, 200 of which
are foreigners," Mahmud said.

The management of the center has responded by designing at
least four tourism-oriented attractions, namely the Mangrove
Trail, Mangrove Adventure boat and canoe, bird watching and
mangrove planting.

For Rp 50,000, an experienced guide will accompany a visitor
on a 2.5-kilometer trek through a thick mangrove forest. Visitors
do not have to walk on the muddy ground, though, because the
center has provided an elevated pathway made from wooden planks,
aptly named the Mangrove Trail, to facilitate the program.

During the trek, the guide will enlighten visitors with
information and trivia on mangroves and the ecosystem.

"So far, the Mangrove Trail has drawn the most visitors,"
Mahmud noted.

The Adventure boat costs a little more -- Rp 400,000 per four
persons, and the canoe Rp 80,000 per person. The center currently
operates three well-equipped boats and canoes.

It has also constructed three towers for bird watching.
Visitors may use the tower at a cost of Rp 50,000 per person.

Visitors who are keen on getting their feet wet and muddy may
do so by trying the mangrove-planting program. For a fee of Rp
70,000, visitors are allowed to plant five young mangrove plants
at designated plots across the center.

"Most important, those who wish to visit the center solely for
the scenery may do so free of charge because there is no entrance
fee," Mahmud stressed.

Mangrove Information Center

Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rai Km.21

Suwung Kauh, Denpasar

tel. (0361) 726969

www.mangrovecentre.or.id