Mangrove Online Training Series

Indonesia once boasted having the largest mangrove area in the world, covering 4.2 million hectares. However, this area has been diminished to 3.3 million hectares due to large-scale conversion for aquaculture, oil palm plantations, road construction, port development, coal-fired power plants, and settlements. Of the remaining mangroves, 1.8 million hectares are either degraded or at risk of further conversion. Common rehabilitation methods implemented in Indonesia often involve planting, but this has often proven unsuccessful. Globally and nationally, there are various mangrove rehabilitation techniques that have been developed which are more effective in restoring degraded mangrove ecosystems. It is hoped that these rehabilitation techniques can be adopted in Indonesia and adapted to the local context to ensure the success of mangrove rehabilitation at the site level.

In addition to mangrove restoration, blue carbon is a widely discussed topic in Indonesia. Mangroves, as a blue carbon ecosystem, can absorb and store significantly more carbon than terrestrial forests, making them crucial for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Indonesia, which holds about 17% of the global blue carbon reserves, has a significant opportunity to engage in international carbon trading sourced from coastal ecosystems.

To achieve the targets for mangrove rehabilitation and blue carbon, collaborative efforts are required from the government, private sector, academia, NGOs, activists, and the community. Identifying potential land for rehabilitation is crucial to meet this goal. This identification must be comprehensive, considering social aspects such as area function, land ownership, and community readiness; ecological aspects, where rehabilitation plans are tailored to the specific needs of each location; lessons from previous rehabilitation efforts; economic aspects; and relevant policy support. In response, the Blue Forests-ELTI program plans to conduct an online training series on mangroves, covering topics such as ecological mangrove rehabilitation (EMR), technical knowledge about mangroves, blue carbon, and high conservation values (HCV).

Join us on the Blue Forests – ELTI online training series at http://bit.ly//mangroveseries2