Mangrove forests in Indramayu under threat

Mangrove forests in Indramayu under threat

Bambang Parlupi, Contributor, Jakarta

A variety of human activities in waterfront areas have made
Java's northern coast mangroves highly vulnerable. The emergence
of fishing settlements, industrial plants and fish ponds is
noticeable along the main coastline, particularly in some
districts of Indramayu regency, West Java.

Indramayu environmental activist Eka Priyatna, who heads the
regency branch of Saka Wanabakti, a scout organization engaged in
forest conservation, has attributed the threatened mangroves in
his area mainly to the lack of awareness among people living
along the coast.

"It's because they are mostly primary school graduates who had
to work with their parents as fisherfolk," he said.

The local forestry office, according to him, also performs
overlapping duties in forest management, which has caused a
divergence of opinion on nature conservation between the regency
administration and the central government.

"The other factor is the low education of field personnel and
the limited number of security personnel, which hampers proper
law enforcement," Eka added.

Abdul Gofar, a nature conservation consultant from Indramayu's
Perhutani state forestry company, voiced the same concern.

"A lot of mangrove forest has been cut down since the economic
crisis seven years ago. Originally taken only as firewood for
cooking, thousands of hectares of mangrove in northern districts
are now damaged and have been converted into fish or shrimp
ponds," he pointed out.

He also referred to a natural factor that forces fishermen to
exploit coastal forests. The strong west wind, causing high
waves, prevents fishermen from working at sea so they are forced
to fell mangroves for sale, create fish ponds in forest land or
undertake other economic activities in coastal districts.

Not surprisingly, no less than 50 percent of the regency's
mangrove forest has been lost to other uses. Thousands of
hectares have become fish ponds, salt manufacturing centers or
settlements.

Along the coasts of Balongan, Eretan and Karang Song, for
example, mangroves as natural buffers have been replaced by rocks
as breakwaters, depriving them of the ecosystem of the 1980s.

Consequently, coastal erosion is more intense, with seawater
abrasion starting to eat away at village homes and even approach
major highways.

"Seawater intrusion occurs even farther into coastal land. In
Kandanghaur, seawater resorption reaches from five kilometers
(km) to 10 km inland," warned Eka.

The same situation prevails in the mangrove forest ecosystem
of Java in general. Indonesia has the world's largest mangrove
zone, accounting for 18 percent to 23 percent of a total 15
million hectares of the earth's mangrove habitat.

Indonesia's mangrove forests are located in Papua (38
percent), Sumatra (19 percent), Kalimantan (28 percent), Java and
other regions.

Eka said various attempts had been made to conserve mangroves
in Indramayu and prevent their exploitation, through information
given to coastal communities, fishermen and even schools, as well
as through replanting projects. In 2003, the local administration
and the scout movement planted tens of thousands of seedlings in
critical areas like Balongan.

However, mangrove rehabilitation in Balongan failed. "The
level of abrasion was quite high and local people's awareness was
still low. The seedlings could not resist strong waves, with only
a small number left after about eight months, while a
considerable sum was spent on them," he explained.

The failure has not prevented Indramayu's mangrove
conservation effort, nonetheless. "This year, regional officials,
students and scouts will join hands in a mangrove replanting
drive slated for April, as part of the forestry ministry's
program through the National Land and Forest Rehabilitation
Movement," Gofar said.

Meanwhile, Cemara district, Losarang, still retains the best
mangrove forest of Indramayu, possibly even of Java. "It is a
model of the northern coast's virgin mangrove forest ecosystem,"
noted Gofar.

With its beautiful coast, variety of mangrove species and
multifarious marine organisms, Cemara belongs to the category of
nature conservation areas now under the management of the local
Perhutani. "It takes three hours from the town of Indramayu to
reach the district, with several more kilometers accessible only
on foot or by motorbike," he added.

Mangroves fulfill a number of diverse functions, as a place
for reproduction of various sea and coastal animals, a shield
against coastal abrasion and erosion, a nutrient pump that
accommodates trace elements and soil particles while absorbing
organic pollutants and pesticides, building material, provider of
charcoal and coloring agents, a source of traditional medicine
and as a site for nature tourism, education and research.

The writer is a member of the World Wide Fund for Nature
Indonesia