Bid to save Indonesia's mangrove swamps bogged down

Bruce Gale Straits Times 13 May 11;

DARK and often foul-smelling, Indonesia's mangrove swamps are not getting the attention they deserve. That, at least, was the message at an international conference on forestry in Bali last month.

Conference participant Daniel Murdiyarso, a senior researcher from the Centre for International Forestry Research, had a dramatic message: Unless Indonesia preserves its 3 million ha of mangrove forests - representing around 23 per cent of the world's total - all the country's climate change mitigation programmes would be pointless.

Mangroves consist of trees and shrubs that grow near saline water in coastal areas. Occasionally flooded by tides, they provide a cheap and effective form of protection against storms and tsunamis. The thin roots also provide a habitat for shrimps and spawning grounds for many types of fish. Recent research has added to the perceived importance of these areas by showing that they store much more carbon than most tropical forests. Their preservation has thus become an important goal in the battle to prevent climate change.

Indonesia is the fifth-largest carbon emitter in the world, with deforestation and forest degradation accounting for more than 80 per cent of its emissions. Jakarta has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 per cent by 2020 using local funds, and by up to 41 per cent by 2050 with foreign financial assistance.

With officials admitting that close to 70 per cent of the country's mangrove forests have already been destroyed, these areas are fading fast. The situation in some parts of the country is clearly worse than others.

Satellite images suggest that about 96 per cent of the mangroves have disappeared in Lampung, for example. In February, the Lampung Integrated Mangrove Forest Preservation Working Group, an organisation tasked with helping the local administration preserve mangrove forests, urged the provincial governor to make it more difficult for individuals or companies to get licences to clear mangroves. Most areas, the organisation said, had been cut down and converted into shrimp and fish ponds or tourist resorts.

Recent years have seen several local initiatives aimed at replanting damaged mangroves. Bali, for example, has become a model for the management of such forests as a result of its success in cultivating and preserving many mangrove species, some of which produce substances with the potential to be developed into medicine.

The Japanese-financed project began in the early 1990s, after vast swathes of mangrove forest on the tiny peninsula in the southern part of Bali had been converted into shrimp ponds.

When the ponds were abandoned, the sea began eroding the coast, sparking concern that the lower part of the island would be cut off.

Today, the 1,346ha forest is managed by 42 workers, half of them technical staff from the Mangrove Management Agency, together with two experts from Japan. A regular maintenance programme is also in place in the hope that the forest will act as the 'lungs' of Denpasar, the provincial capital.

Attempts to replicate this success in other parts of the country, however, have been disappointing. Surabaya, for example, replanted 1.8 million mangrove trees in 2004. However, reports in 2009 suggested that almost all of them had died. Officials accused coastal communities of lacking concern about the preservation of the mangrove ecosystem.

Bangka Belitung, an island group lying off the south-east coast of Sumatra, is currently facing a similar problem. An organisation calling itself Bangka Goes Green has been working in the province with the local mining industry since early last year to replace mangroves destroyed by tin mining activities. The organisation's officials, however, admit that many of the mangrove seedlings they planted have not survived. The organisation blames pests that feed on the barnacles, leaves and stems of the planted mangroves.

However, on a tour of a mangrove reforestation project in North Jakarta in June last year, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan pointed to a more prosaic reason for the failure of such replanting initiatives.

Both leaders were shocked by the condition of the Angke Kapuk Tourist Park. 'Everything is here, mattresses, pillows and all kinds of rubbish,' noted Mr Zulkifli. 'This is the biggest problem stopping rehabilitation from happening.' The replanting initiative, he concluded, had been beset by shoddy management.

Political will is yet another issue.

Last year, after Indonesia signed a US$1 billion (S$1.23 billion) letter of intent with Norway on climate change, Dr Yudhoyono promised to impose a moratorium on forest clearing. Under the letter of intent, the forest moratorium should have been imposed in January. However, it has since been delayed, reportedly due to intervention by business and political interests.

Indonesian officialdom may well be waking up to the importance of the nation's mangrove swamps. But the belated attempts at preservation and extension continue to lack the necessary determination to ensure success.