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Along the coasts of Balongan, Eretan and Karang Song, for example, mangroves as natural buffers have been replaced by rocks as breakwaters, depriving them of the ecosystem of the 1980s.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