Mangroves, saves the beaches, helps the people

Few days ago I've read an article in a magazine that was talking about mangrove. From this source I found out that there or some 70 different kinds of mangroves, from those which grow of the height of a bush to those growing up to 60 meters in height.

However the more interesting fact is that mangroves becomes more than means to protect the beach from erosion or to subside the devastating effect of Tsunami wave. Mangroves can grow in places where other plants would die in no time, because it has the ability to filter fresh water from the sea water and use it for the growth. Mangroves also retain sediments carried by the rivers thus as such it also creates new land.

What is even more interesting that mangrove forest becomes an ecosystem for marine and land life. Bottom line if mankind is willing to plant the mangroves in coastal areas, the nature will fill it with new life and this life will in turn benefit the mankind. A perfect solution for nature and mankind.

It was Gordon Sato, an American scientist and pioneer in developing drugs against cancer who was the first to be inspired in using mangroves to help the less fortunate people living on the coastal lines of Eritrea. A country still recovering from the war and famine. Sato observed that camels ate mangrove leaves, thus logically other domesticated animals could eat it too. So after conducting several unsuccessful attempts to plant mangroves, Sato finally came up with the way to do it successfully. After that he also thought the local villagers how to do the same and what benefit will they gain in doing so. Mangrove forest didn't just become a source of food for sheep and goats, but also a new habitat for mullet, crabs, oysters and other sea creatures. This mullet in turn attracts larger fish that are in turn a very nice catch for the local fishermen. The people on the coast of Eritrea now fully understand the benefit of mangroves for their future and are also planting more mangroves.

Now how about Indonesia and Bali in particular? According to the same source Indonesia has the largest total area of mangroves. However unfortunately the mangroves existence has been mostly overlooked, despite the enormous potentials even more for an archipelago country. Mangroves received attention only after the Tsunami natural disaster in Aceh few years ago and that only as protective plant against Tsunami.

Bali for example has a problem with beach abrasion in several regions, while on the other side there are still many coastal communities that live in poverty for example on the east and north areas where drought happens often. So what we can obviously do is plant the mangroves to save the beaches and help the people there to overcome the poverty. Of course to do that it would require roll of all parties included, government, NGOs and for sure the local communities. It shouldn't be difficult to obtain mangrove propagules since in south Bali there is a Mangrove Center, but before planting perhaps a brief study should be conducted on which species of mangrove would be appropriate for each area.

Learning from Eritrean experience, the leaves can be used as source of food for goats and cows and with the forming of hen new ecosystem, there should also be additional benefits from the sea potentials. Furthermore beside being used as fertilizer, cattle manure using simple technology can also be used to create gas used for cooking by the households and thus minimizing the traditional use of firewood for the purpose. Then perhaps if the cattle numbers grow which would also increase the manure gas production, the excess could be used to fuel a small power plant sufficient for a village. This way community would become more self sufficient and less dependant.

Once established same pattern can be put into work in other parts of Indonesia, particularly the East part like the province of Nusa Tenggara Timur where drought happens almost every year. All this can be done, the solution is there and the potentials are wide open.

Question is when do we start? Let's start immediately. I believe we can do it!