Replanting the mangroves along Indonesia's coasts

Sukristijono Sukardjo, Jakarta

The long-neglected mangrove coastal areas of Indonesia are once again in the news, although thankfully not because of any natural disaster, but due to the announcement of plans to redevelop a mangrove belt along the coast, especially in Aceh.

"Take a long look at the mangroves in Aceh, it may be the last you may see," says an article: de vloedbosschen in Atjeh, in the Dutch scientific journal, Tectona of 1923.

This is like a bad horror movie; the mangroves in Aceh face almost certain doom. Today it has come true in Aceh in 2005.

The recommendation of the article in Tectona also states: "The preservation of the existing mangrove swamps in Aceh and a regulation to stop their exploitation is urgent."

Protecting this vast area from environmental destruction by the planting of mangrove plants and/or other coastal flora (both Calophyllum (mangrove) formation and Cemara, (Casuarina equisetifolia) along the seafront had thus been mooted before."

The coastal area of Indonesia is approximately 108,000 kilometers long and covers almost 50 percent of the country's total land mass. Indonesia stretches over 5,000 km from Sumatra to New Guinea, its coastal zones are home to about 65 percent of the total population of the country and provides the natural resources base on which such a broad range of human activity depends. It therefore is vulnerable.

The importance of protecting these areas with mangroves must be firmly underscored. Moreover, this important fauna is the nation's first line of defense in times of natural calamities, as evidenced in Aceh, which this newspaper has made the point of stressing so far to focus attention on this neglected resource and the importance of its redevelopment.

The saddest part of the whole thing is that the coastal areas of the country once boasted some of the densest and largest mangrove forests in the world. Again, Aceh is in fact an example of the brackish water ponds (tambak) development policy. The question should be: Is it necessary and relevant to use mangrove areas for tambak development?

Although the country still has the most mangrove stands, they are very depleted at present, and suffer from environmental neglect on a huge scale, having been sacrificed to the avarice of man and poorly conceived economic policies. Look at the Mahakam delta in East Kalimantan, the mangroves have been nearly wiped out.

This is in contradiction to the spirit of both Agenda 21 and the Rio de Janeiro Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of June 1992.

Most recently, Aceh was decimated by a tsunami. Mangrove reforestation has been touted as a possible preventative measure against future tsunamis.

The denuding of the mangrove forests, which is mostly illegal, has destroyed the natural habitat of marine life, important to the fishing areas of Indonesia. Scientific reports say more than 450 varieties of commercially important fish species depend on mangrove stands for their food sources, breeding, nurseries, feeding, spawning grounds, as well as nesting sites for a variety birds.

Inopportune construction of tracts of land reclaimed from the sea and conversion for settlements etc. in Jakarta, for instance, has led to the shifting of estuaries and greatly disturbed the ecological balance -- driving many fish to extinction. It is not only an environmental crime, but also a loss of social ethics and morality. Now mostly choked, these reclaimed tracts also aggravate seasonal flooding.

I do not want to see Jakarta end up like Aceh. With mangrove swamps already reduced to less than half of their volume in a period of only four decades, and the rest threatened by increasing salinity and soil erosion, there is a crying need to attend to this urgently.

A long-term plan of structural measures designed to contain tidal surges and to protect life and property along the coast was envisaged some years back but could not be implemented due to resource constraints. Land reclamation schemes in the coastal zones were once also a much-talked about idea, and recent reports indicate this is part of an overall plan taken up by the authorities in Jakarta.

In this regard, people should be made aware that reclaimed land must be given over to mangrove afforestation for a period of not less than 10 years before it can be used for purposes of business and/or agriculture. The authorities must, therefore, be on guard against encroachment for it will be this waiting period, which will be the hardest for people starved of agricultural land. However, if this waiting period is not observed, the whole purpose will be lost.

Preservation of the mangrove coastal regions is essential for economic development, for the inter-dependence with the uplands and the marine life in the vicinity has long-term socio-economic importance for the people. For Aceh, my concept will be the "hinterland development-friendly mangrove belt".

This concept is an ecosystem approach as the primary framework for action under the CBD convention (decision V/6) at the Fifth Meeting in Nairobi 2000. The choice of mangrove trees (based on aut-ecology) must also be given the concern and attention it deserves to prevent more mistakes. Coconut and/or palm trees in beach areas in the ecotone-mangrove belt in both swampy and muddy areas, have always been excellent for use as wind-breakers in storms.

If good sense prevails, the coastal zone can be successfully transformed into the finest mangrove green belt we could wish for, but care will have to be exercised to see that the growing trees are properly protected from human predators lest the green belt be decimated before it has a chance to grow.

Aceh, you are the excellent example for us to learn from. Thanks must also go to the tsunami; because it removed our blindness and now many people in Indonesia appreciate mangroves. But will our government officials, lawmakers and development planners listen to these voices speaking up for Indonesia's diminishing mangroves?

The writer is a Professor of Mangrove Ecology at the Center for Oceanographical Research and Development, Indonesian Institute of Sciences. He can be reached at s_sukardjo@yahoo.com.