About 40 percent of mangrove ecosystems in Indonesia is damaged

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SURABAYA - Indonesia has the largest mangrove ecosystems in the Southeast Asia. Ironically, more than 40 percent of mangrove forests in Indonesia is damaged.

Director of Forest and Landscape Restoration at the Ministry of Forestry, Bedjo Santoso, mentioned that only 2.2 million of 3.7 million hectare area of mangrove forest in Indonesia were in good condition. Yet, they are still prone to extinction in the next ten years.

"About 40 percent of mangrove ecosystems are damaged. Most of them are in West Java," Santoso said during Regional Symposium on Mangrove Ecosystem Management in Southeast Asia on Wednesday. "Most of the mangrove ecosystem in northern coast of Java are gone. What's left is only mud," he continued.

Santoso explained that in other areas, the mangrove forest had turned into housing and some abandoned to dead. It is the worst damage even compared to those in Philippines.

Indonesia hosts Mangrove Symposium in Surabaya on February 27-March 1. The symposium aims to share good practices and lessons, findings and perspectives related to mangrove ecosystem management including technical and management issues in protection, rehabilitation and sustainable use in the Southeast Asia region.

It also discusses the establishment of a cooperation mechanism and networking for mainstreaming mangrove ecosystem management in the Southeast Asia region.