Death of mangrove forests imperials Mentawai Islands
Death of mangrove forests imperials Mentawai Islands
By I Made Tinggal Karyawan
MENTAWAI, West Sumatra (Antara): About 32,000 hectares of
mangrove forests on Mentawai island, located around 90 kms to the
east of West Sumatra's capital Padang, is severely damaged,
posing serious threats to sea biota living in its ecosystem.
The destruction of mangrove forests is also feared to affect
surfing locations, one of the islands' many attractions.
Head of the Analysis Center for Mangrove and Coastal Area of
the Padang-based Bung Hatta University, Erni Kamal, warned that
if the environmental degradation was ignored, one by one, the
islands would disappear as a result of erosion by the sea.
She said that several small islands have already vanished due
to erosion. Bigger islands also suffer from the same threat.
One-third of Pananggalan Besar island has already vanished
into the sea. There are no remaining mangrove trees to
protect the coastal area. She said it's feared that the island
might also disappear soon.
The fear is reasonable, considering the rapid erosion process
due to strong waves in the area.
The fierceness of Mentawai islands' waves is well-known,
especially by those who used to visit the island.
"The fierce waves on Mentawai are not based on fictional
stories, instead, they are based on reality, and many people have
become victims," said West Sumatra's deputy governor Zainal
Bakar.
According to Erni Kamal, the fierceness of the islands' waves
were not only caused by the area's topography, but also due to
the absence of mangrove forests, that were supposed to shield the
islands and their coastal areas from further erosion caused by
strong storms.
In the fishery sector, mangrove forests serve as the habitat
of sea biota, such as aquatic fauna like shrimp and fish, since
the forests produce around four tones of detritus, food for
aquatic fauna.
"If the mangrove forests' ecosystem is destroyed, it means
that aquatic fauna will disappear too, since it means there will
be no food provided by the mangroves," said Erni Kamal.
According to research by the analysis center, the destruction
of the mangrove ecosystem in Mentawai is strongly related to,
among others, the construction of buildings for tourism that were
not environmentally friendly and were irresponsible acts by local
people, who cut mangrove trees for fire wood.
"The damage caused by the destruction of the mangrove forests
can be seen by the decrease in local fishermen's catches," she
said.
Another researcher, Dayar Arbain of Andalas University in
Padang, said the destruction of mangrove forests did not only
endanger aquatic fauna's habitat, but also threatened some
surfing locations around the islands.
The islands have around 40 surfing locations, well-known by
foreign tourists. One of them is on Pananggalan Besar island.
He said the attractiveness of Mentawai's waves for surfers
could not be separated from the ecosystem around the islands and
urged efforts to make surfing sites safe and to start by saving
the ecosystem, including mangrove forests and coral reef.
Both experts, Dayar Arbain and Erni Kamal, said that it would
take a lot of money to save the islands' mangrove forests.
"It will take seven to 10 years to restore the mangrove
forests to their normal condition."
They said local administrations should perform tight controls
to prevent further damage, including stopping the development of
tourism sites which fail to consider the need to preserve the
islands' pristine environment. The administration was also told
not to issue permits to construct piers and hotels on islands
less than five hectares wide.