Indonesian students grow mangroves to prevent erosion

Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post 31 Dec 09;

More than 30 students from the SDN 1 Bedono state elementary school in Demak, Central Java, 15 students from the SMK Demak fishery school and 15 university students have planted 5,000 mangroves in a former shrimp farm in Bedono village, Sayung district in Demak, Central Java.

They expect the flourishing mangrove trees will prevent coastal erosion, which has continuously eroded the coastline and damaged residents’ homes.

“The mangrove planting drive is a routine program carried out annually. We have been doing it for the past five years and have grown mangrove trees in a 260-hectare plot of land along the Demak coast.

However, around 20 hectares of the young trees have been swept away by the waves.

“Now, in the second year of the 5-year program we will grow mangroves in a 50 hectare area,” Karis, a member of the Demak Bahari Mangrove Group, told The Jakarta Post.

The elementary school and Japanese students from the Organization for Industry, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement (OISCA) in Japan, immediately jumped into the pond that was filled with waist-high mud, while a number of the Demak students crawled adeptly from one point to another while planting the mangrove seedlings.

Many of the mangrove forests along the north coast of Demak have been damaged due to huge waves and people felling the trees to make space for shrimp farms.

“There are many land certificates here, but the plots of land are no longer visible because they have been submerged by the sea. In 1990, I owned a 4-hectare shrimp farm, but now it has vanished. I had to move from Senik hamlet to Tambaksari Baru, because it was swallowed by the sea,” said Nurohman, 40.

Nurohman is also aware of rising sea levels due to the impact of global warming from his environmentalist friends.

“The reclamation project in the Tanjung Emas Port area in Semarang has exacerbated the condition.

Its impacts have immediately affected our area because the sea water has engulfed and will eventually submerge our village,” he said.

Nurohman, who was born and raised in Bedono village, is clearly aware of coastal erosion in his area.

Now, the entire village floods during major high tides.

“But where would we move to? I’m old and don’t have money to buy land and build a house. This is the only house that I can live in with my two children. When high tide comes, we are forced to get wet.

So we are used to this condition,” said Abdul Muin, 62.

Bedono village chief Mualipin said that most of the 1,250 families, or 4,500 residents, were familiar with the high tides.

“Only a few of the houses are not affected by the high tides because they are built up high. A number of residents of hamlets located along the coast had to move to new areas because their villages have been swamped,” he said.