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.