Mangrove Forests can Reduce the Impacts of tsunami
Dense mangrove forest of about 200 meters, with density 30 trees of 15 centimeters diameter per 100 square meters can help reduce 50 percent the devastating impact of tsunamis and coastal storms by absorbing some of the waves’ energy. This was stated by the Director General of Watershed Management and Social Forestry Ministry of Forestry Dr. Ir. Harry Santoso in the National Seminar on the Planting of 3000 Tree with theme ‘Preservation of Mangrove Ecosystems in Creating Sustainability of Forests’, Saturday, 22 January 2011, at Darmaga Campus.
The seminar was organized by Tree Grower Community of Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB TGC). Mangrove forests have a very important role for the nature conservation of including: the balance of marine and coastal areas. As well as acting as a barrier against tsunamis and other various disasters (cyclones and hurricanes), mangrove forests provide society with a range of other ‘ecological services’. These include preventing coastal erosion, protecting coral reefs from silting up, sources of nutrients and habitat for marine biota, decomposition of pollutants, buffer coastal areas, and producing wood and other materials and providing a source of timber.
Out of the 7.7 million hectares of mangrove forests in Indonesia, 3.2 million hectares of them have been devastated, 2, 4 million hectares are in good condition and 2.7 million hectares of them are threatened. The contributing factors to the devastation of mangrove forests are external and internal factors. The the conversion to large-scale shrimp and fish farms is the most significant external factor that threat to mangroves, as well as other pressures include tourism developments and rising populations, "said Dr. Harry Santoso. Also present as speakers in this seminar: Representative of Mangrove Research and Development Institute, Mr. Ahmad Faisal Siregar, Director of Coastal and Marine, Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Dr.Soebandono Diposaptono, Director of Wetlands International-Indonesian Programme, I Nyoman Suryadiputra, and Deputy Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of National Development Planning Dr. Ir. Rr. Endah Murniningtyas, M. Sc. (Wied).
