JAKARTA – President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said the Indonesian government is aiming to restore 600,000ha of mangrove forests in the country by 2024, Antara news agency reported.
“We will fix our target for the next three years. We will rehabilitate 600,000ha (of mangrove forests),” he said in the Tana Tidung district, North Kalimantan, yesterday.
He made the statement after planting mangroves with the ambassadors of several countries and the people of Tana Tidung, it reported.
“Our total mangrove forest (area) is 3.6 million hectares,” he noted.
According to Antara, Jokowi said rehabilitation efforts are being undertaken to protect coastal areas from sea waves and seawater intrusion, and to preserve the habitat of species – including birds, fishes, crabs, monkeys, and other flora and fauna – living in and around the mangrove forests.
“In North Kalimantan, there are 180,000ha of mangrove forests that we will look at in more detail, and we will rehabilitate,” the president added.
The ambassadors who joined Jokowi in planting mangroves yesterday included Czech ambassador to Indonesia Jaroslav Dolecek and his wife; Chilean ambassador to Indonesia Gustavo Nelson Ayares Ossandron; Finnish ambassador to Indonesia Jari Sinkari; Swiss ambassador to Indonesia Kurt Kunz; and Brazilian deputy ambassador to Indonesia Daniel Barra Ferreira. World Bank country director Satu Kahkonen also participated in the event.
Moreover, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar, State Secretary Minister Pratikno, North Kalimantan Governor Zainal Arifin Paliwang and Tana Tidung district head Ibrahim Ali attended the event.
Earlier, Bakar had affirmed that the Indonesian government will accelerate mangrove rehabilitation to recover around 600,000ha of mangrove land by 2024.
“There are many ways (for the acceleration). From the government side, there are the state budget and regional budget. There are also support from corporate social responsibility and SOEs (state-owned enterprises), as well as the outstanding initiatives from the community – tree adoption, for example,” she said. – Bernama, October 20, 2021
