- KL Indonesia together with the KEHATI Foundation developed a learning location for mangrove ecosystem rehabilitation in the Lantebung mangrove tourist area, Bira Village, Tamalanrea District, Makassar City, South Sulawesi.
- This activity began in June 2023 with reflections with the community regarding their 10 years of experience carrying out mangrove rehabilitation in the Lantebung area. Based on monitoring data from July 2023 to January 2024, in general the mangroves planted grow well.
- It is hoped that this mangrove rehabilitation activity will contribute to mangrove carbon uptake of 1,025 tons/year. Contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions as per the Makassar City RAN GRK and NDC targets
This activity is also expected to contribute to Makassar City's Green Open Space (RTH), which is targeted at 5,273.1 ha or 30% of the total area. According to DLH data for Makassar City, as of the end of 2023, Makassar's green open space is still around 11.47%.
The Indonesian Marine Conservation Foundation (YKL), supported by the Biodiversity Foundation (KEHATI), together with the community, developed a learning location for mangrove ecosystem rehabilitation in the Lantebung mangrove tourist area , Bira Village, Tamalanrea District, Makassar City, South Sulawesi.
This activity started in June 2023, starting with a joint reflection with the community regarding the experience over the last 10 years of carrying out mangrove rehabilitation in the Lantebung area, both successful and unsuccessful.
Nuryamin, the coordinator of this program, said that the results of learning with the community and direct observations then elaborated on experiences from other areas as well as various literature which became the basis for preparing the mangrove rehabilitation design that was carried out.
"The community said that quite a few mangrove rehabilitations failed because they were planted far into the sea, so they were swept away by the waves, always inundated and full of rubbish. "Furthermore, we carried out monitoring to find that the height of the substrate at the rehabilitation site was not suitable," said Nuryamin in Makassar, Tuesday (13/2/2024).
From this learning , he continued, it then became the basis for carrying out rehabilitation. Before planting, first overcome growth disturbance factors and support the natural growth of mangroves by creating engineered buildings.
The community then made a wave breaking device (APO) from bamboo which also acts as a sediment trap to increase the height of the substrate according to the outermost natural mangroves of the rehabilitation site. They then made mounds as plant protectors made of bamboo and installed warings as trash protectors as well as natural seed traps.
"After that, one hectare of mangrove rehabilitation was carried out by planting 10,000 mangrove seedlings of the Rhizophora mucronata , Rhizophora stylosa and Avicennia officinalis types . "Apart from that, mangrove seedlings of the Avicennia marina , Sonneratia caseolaris and Sonneratia alba types were distributed ," explained Nuryamin.
For planting methods, a number of approaches are used, such as pure planting patterns, spaced clumps, enrichment planting patterns and random planting patterns. Rehabilitation activities also adopt some ecological mangrove rehabilitation ( EMR ) methods , where efforts are made to improve ecological and hydrological conditions to adjust the rehabilitation location according to the natural conditions in which mangroves can grow .
For field activities, Andi Muhammad Subhan, YKL Indonesia field staff, assisted by two local youth as community organizers , monitors, evaluates and maintains the rehabilitation results every month.
"We have been monitoring and treating rehabilitation results for seven months," said Subhan.
Based on monitoring data from July 2023 to January 2024, in general the mangroves planted grow well. The growth percentage was 93% and 374 natural recruitment seedlings of the Avicennia sp type were found . The growth rate is between 30% to 100% of the initial height of the seedlings with an average number of leaves of 18.35.
"The maintenance carried out is checking the engineering building to ensure it is still functioning properly, cleaning rubbish and algae on the warings and strengthening the warings and carrying out embroidery," he added.
According to Subhan, various lessons from success and failure were obtained from this activity. The most important note is that mangrove rehabilitation is not just about planting but first understanding the location well then overcoming disturbance factors and applying the right methods.
The lesson learned from success is that planting with various types is more effective, especially when talking about zoning, planting is done in an area that is not too far from mangrove trees that have already grown and have the same substrate height.
"Engineered buildings to overcome disturbance factors help mangroves grow well and increase substrate height. "Installing mangrove seed traps using waring is effective in trapping seeds carried by the current and then growing in suitable locations," he continued.
Meanwhile, to learn from failure, engineering buildings were damaged by large waves in the period December to January 2024. Seedlings planted outside the APO were lost during the wave season.
"From observing the seasons, we see that it is not recommended to plant in September - January in the northern coastal area of Makassar City and its surroundings. "Planting in muddy areas that were not previously mangrove areas and where the substrate height is very low is not recommended for planting," said Subhan.
Nirwan Dessibali, Executive Director of YKL Indonesia said that his party is very open to various lessons on mangrove rehabilitation in Lantebung , especially to various parties who plan to carry out rehabilitation in muddy areas.
"This is a learning site that we developed together with the community, hoping that this can become a reference for various parties who plan to carry out mangrove rehabilitation, especially in Lantebung and in the surrounding area and in areas with the same characteristics," he explained.
According to Nirwan, this mangrove rehabilitation activity is expected to contribute to mangrove carbon uptake of 1,025 tons/year. Contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions as per the Makassar City RAN GRK target and NDC ( Nationally Determined Contribution ).
Apart from that, this activity is also expected to contribute to Makassar City's Green Open Space (RTH), which is targeted at 5,273.1 ha or 30% of the total area. According to DLH data for Makassar City, as of the end of 2023, Makassar's green open space is still around 11.47%.
"We also hope that this activity can increase the diversity of mangrove types in Lantebung, which is currently only dominated by the Rhizophora mucronata type , become a coastal fortress against land abrasion and subsidence, against intrusion and inundation due to sea level rise, strong winds and others, as well as a source of livelihood and the living space of the coastal communities of Makassar City and the extent of ecotourism destinations," he concluded.