In the Media
Indonesia: Mangrove and climate change
June 15, 2012
The Jakarta Post
Have you ever been to the mangrove forest at the mouth of Muara Angke River in North Jakarta? Here you can see ugly trees and other vegetation growing in an indescribably dirty area full of garbage and swamped with stinking water full of all kinds of solid and liquid waste. It is hard to imagine that these same trees and vegetation called mangroves play a very critical role in our livelihood and in our fight against climate change.
For many decades, mangrove forests have not been taken seriously as an important ecosystem in our environment and have been largely neglected in all debates about illegal logging, land use change and global warming. Only in recent years have mangrove forests received more attention as people start to realize their significance to the economy and the environment.
According to some reports, the annual economic value of products and services that mangrove forests provide is between US$200,000 and $900,000 per hectare. Mangrove forests are also one of nature’s best ways to combat global warming because they are so efficient in sequestering carbon.
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Keywords: Asia, carbon, Indonesia, mangrove, mangroves, RI