Half of Indonesia's mangrove forests heavily damaged

Antara 30 Nov 10;

Bogor (ANTARA News) - Half of Indonesia`s mangrove forests are heavily damaged and facing total destruction due to ecological problems, an expert said here Tuesday.

Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) mangrove expert Professor Cecep Kusmana said most of Indonesia`s mangrove forests were in critical condition because of ecological disturbances.

Cecep hoped the government, the Forestry Ministry in particular, would undertake an emergency response to save the mangrove forests as they were on the brink of complete destruction.

"The threat to our mangrove forests is very concerning and they will vanish if we don?t act now," Cecep said.

The precarious conditions of the country`s mangrove forests needed to be addressed through serious actions by the central government , the Forestry Ministry and all stakeholders, he said.

The governments of regions where the mangroves were located also had an important role to play in saving them as they were the local policy makers.

"Local governments and the Forestry Ministry are expected to work together to stop further damage to mangrove forests," he said.

On the occasion, Professor Cecep also introduced the "Guludan" technique to save mangrove forests, which was considered as the appropriate technology to revitalize heavily damaged and critical forest areas.

The Guludan technique was mainly done by using a bamboo pole that planted deep in the mangrove areas and formed as a square partition with adjustable size.

In the research, the proper square measurement was done by 4 four meters wide, six meters long and two meters deep into the mangrove`s soil.

These Guludan must be filled with bags full of dirt on the bottom and then piled with approximately 50 centimeters high dirt on the top as the plant`s medium.

After the structure is built, mangrove sprouts can now be planted at a certain distance from each other.(*)