Jakarta – Mangroves play a crucial role in the water cycle, biodiversity, environmental services, and climate change adaptation and mitigation, according to the Peat and Mangrove Restoration Agency (BRGM).
“Mangroves are environmental heroes that are often overlooked. We need to understand how important their role is in maintaining our ecosystem,” said BRGM Head, Hartono Rawiraatmadja, at an event titled “Mangroves for Future”, commemorating World Mangrove Day, July 26-27, 2024.
The event aimed to educate the public about the importance of mangroves, the threats they face, and ways to protect them. On that occasion, Hartono revealed that an average of 25,000 hectares of mangroves per year are converted.
“That is in APL, or ‘other use area’ that is indeed permitted in the spatial planning of the area to be used for other purposes,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Environment and Forestry Alue Dohong revealed that the main factor that makes mangrove ecosystems so important to protect is their land area.
Based on the National Mangrove Map 2023, the area of mangrove forests in Indonesia reaches 3.44 million hectares, equivalent to 20 percent of the world’s total mangrove area and around 45% in Asia.
The government through BRGM has an ambitious target to rehabilitate 600,000 hectares of mangroves in nine priority provinces in accordance with Presidential Regulation Number 120 of 2020.
The target is divided into two. First, a target of 200,000 hectares for mangrove rehabilitation through community planting activities. Second, a target of 400,000 hectares of sustainable mangrove landscape management, including protecting intact mangrove areas through strengthening regulations, institutions, and community empowerment.
However, achieving the target of rehabilitating 600 thousand hectares is not an easy task. There are many challenges to realizing this target, especially in terms of financing.
“Community support is very important because we are at the forefront of mangrove conservation,” added Alue Dohong. (Hartatik)
