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