One popular climate change mitigation measure is mangrove rehabilitation through conventional planting. Mangrove protection is more effective and efficient in reducing greenhouse gas emissions than planting.
Read: Renewable Technologies in Sustainable Forest Management
According to the National Mangrove Map 2023, Indonesia has 3.4 million hectares of mangroves. However, it is estimated that since two centuries ago, Indonesia has lost 1 million hectares of mangroves, or 13x the size of Singapore (Ilman, 2016). In the period 2009 - 2019 alone, it is known that Indonesia lost 182,091 hectares (Arifanti et al., 2021).
The Mangrove and Peat Restoration Agency (BRGM) targets mangrove rehabilitation of 600,000 hectares by 2024. However, mangrove rehabilitation is a difficult, expensive, and long-duration project ensuring increased forest cover. According to a report by Kompas, as of February 2024, BRGM has only managed to restore 130,000 hectares of mangroves.
A World Bank analysis in 2022 revealed that the cost of mangrove rehabilitation in Indonesia is high, reaching up to USD 3,900 (approximately IDR 64,000,000) per hectare, above the global average of USD 3,500 per hectare. Moreover, potential rehabilitation failures will add to the cost of re-rehabilitation and maintenance, making the actual cost even higher.
In addition, from the perspective of climate mitigation through carbon sequestration, mangroves need tens to hundreds of years to achieve maximum carbon storage (Kusumangnityas et al., 2021). Novita et al. (2022) analyzed that mangrove protection and management activities contribute up to 75% to climate mitigation compared to mangrove restoration, which is only 25%.
Based on the 2021 National Mangrove Map, only 49% of Indonesia's mangrove areas are in Protection Forests and Conservation Forests, while the rest are in Production Forests and Other Use Areas at risk of conversion. If we can maintain the existing mangrove forests, Indonesia will have a reserve of up to 28 million tons of carbon (Arifianti, 2021). This means that mangroves can contribute to helping Indonesia achieve its unconditional (independent) FOLU target of up to 5.6%.
Therefore, mangrove protection and management should be prioritized to maintain Indonesia's carbon stocks. It is estimated to be less costly, with a process that includes strengthening provincial, district, and village institutions, strengthening policies, and formulating regulations.
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