CIFOR Scientists begin research on Indonesia’s mangrove capacity

Hans David Tampubolon, The Jakarta Post 30 Jun 15;

By having more than 2 million hectares of mangrove wetland area, Indonesia could play a major role in mitigating climate change.

The true potential of Indonesia’s massive mangrove area has never been properly measured and because of this, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), along with the Maritime and Fisheries Research and Development Center at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, have launched research in several wetland areas within the archipelago.

One of the selected areas for the research is the Pulau Dua wildlife reserve, some 90 kilometers from Jakarta in Serang, the provincial capital of Banten. Located in the northwestern region of the Java coastline, Pulau Dua is also one of the country’s natural mangrove ecosystems that has been facing continuous threats from the growth of residential and industrial areas.

“We want to see two things from this research,” CIFOR principal scientist Daniel Murdiyarso told The Jakarta Post.

“First of all, we want to see the amount of carbon stocked within the Pulau Dua conservation area, which covers only around 250 hectares of wetlands. Secondly, we want to measure the acceleration of sedimentation. By looking at these two things, we can estimate the Pulau Dua conservation’s capacity in stocking carbon and on how it can protect its backyards from sea erosion.

“Eventually, the significance of this research is to estimate the total potential that Indonesia has with its millions of hectares of wetlands just by looking at the final results of the research conducted in this small conservation area.”

Daniel said that the research, which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), would take five years to complete.

To begin the research, CIFOR scientists and staff from the ministry had installed a sedimentation and carbon stock measurement tool called the Rod Surface Elevation Table Marker Horizon (RSET-MH) in various places near the Pulau Dua coastline.

To install the tool, the scientists need to insert several 1-meter rods, which are connected together, straight down into the ground.

“You must be sure that the rods are straight because even the slightest deviation would give you the wrong data when you try to measure sedimentation and elevation change,” one of CIFOR’s staff members, Sigit, said when he instructed a number of ministry employees and local guards on how to properly install the tool.

“Accuracy is very important for this research,” he added.

The depth of the rods inserted varies from one area to another. In Papua, according to Daniel, the scientists needed to insert at least 10 meters of connected rods while in Pulau Dua, they only needed 6 meters of them.

“If you can still push the rods downward, then you still need to add more rods, connect them and insert them further down,” Daniel said.

Once the insertion is completed, the scientists then needed to secure a handle on top of the rod. The handle contains nine holes in which measurement sticks would be inserted and these would be used as the instrument to measure elevation changes.

Other than measuring sedimentation and elevation changes, scientists are also tasked to compile data regarding medium-sized and small deadwood debris surrounding the area so that they could also learn about vegetation colonization within the area.

The measurement and data compilation are regularly conducted every six months by a team consisting of between two and four researchers until the research is complete.

“Six months later, when we return to this area and collect our first measurement, we might find that elevation changes only by some millimeters,” Daniel said.

“It might not seem much and some people might think collecting the data is boring because of the minute changes, but it is an important element for us to better understand about carbon stock potential in mangroves,” he added.

Mangroves are considered as one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet despite their ability to protect the world’s coastlines from storm surges, sea level rise and even tsunamis.

According to a report released in 2014 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), mangroves are being destroyed at a rate that is between three and five times greater than the average rates of forest loss.

The report, entitled “The Importance of Mangroves: A Call to Action”, says that the continuous destruction of mangroves has cost billions in economic damages and has denied millions of people the ecosystem services they need to survive.

The report also describes how emissions resulting from mangrove losses make up nearly one-fifth of global emissions from deforestation, resulting in economic damages of between US$6 billion and $42 billion annually.

In addition, mangroves are also threatened by climate change, which could result in the loss of a further 10 to 15 percent of mangroves by 2100.

For Southeast Asia, the report predicts that by 2050 countries in this region will potentially have lost 35 percent of the mangrove cover they had in 2000.

Ecosystem service losses in Southeast Asia from the destruction of mangroves has been estimated to be worth more than $2 billion annually over the period between 2000 and 2050, with Indonesia predicted to suffer the highest losses at $1.7 billion per year.

Daniel said that he hoped the results of the research conducted by CIFOR and the ministry would indirectly prompt all related policymakers in Indonesia regarding the importance of conserving mangroves for the future.

“If mangrove areas are continuously converted, then we will lose all of their capability to protect us,” he said.

— photos by JP/Hans David Tampubolon