With an estimated cost of Rp 18 trillion (US$1.1 billion), it will take years to rehabilitate the degraded mangroves in Indonesia if relying solely on the government budget. Therefore, participation of the private sector and other parties in restoring the mangroves is encouraging news.  

The public dialog, taking place on July 26 with the topic Collaborative Financing of Accelerating Mangrove Rehabilitation in Mangrove Ecosystem Management revealed how the private sector and other parties that had collaborated with BRGM had reaffirmed their commitment to supporting the agency’s efforts in implementing the mangrove conservation and restoration program.

PT Indika Energy environment and forestry division chief Silverius Oscar Unggul said that initially the company started with planting mangroves in 35 hectares under the company’s Indika Energy Mangrove Program in Action (IMPACT) program in Paser regency, East Kalimantan, starting in 2023, “we have expanded to 250 ha,” he said.

“As the BRGM has frequently stated, the mangrove rehabilitation program is not only about planting mangrove trees, but how the program can enable local communities to sustainably earn a living,” he said.

Collaborating with various parties, including the BRGM and NGOs, the programs helps find the right approach toward creating sustainable mangrove management by also providing livelihoods to local communities.

“We have technology that enables us to trace all the mangrove trees that we have planted, the impact of the fertilizer on the trees, the community livelihoods. This way, all [aspects of mangrove restoration program] can be measured,” he said.

To enable local communities to manage the mangroves, a cooperative was built and “under a collaborative program with the BRGM, we design models of income that local communities can earn in a sustainable manner.”

“We want to emphasize that we are committed to supporting and collaborating with the BRGM,” he said, adding, “other areas are expected to replicate our models.”

Pertamina Hulu Rokan’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) head Pandjie Anoraga said that the company had initiated developing mangrove conservation Bandar Bakau in Bandar Regency, Dumai, Riau Province as an eco-edu-tourism site in 2022.

The company adopted a pentahelic approach involving several partners, where the focus was not only placed on restoring the mangrove ecosystem, but also on generating social, economic, cultural and other benefits. “For us, conserving mangroves is important.

The mangrove conservation site at Bandar Bakau, which initially covered an area of 2.2 ha of land, now covers 24 ha up to 2024, Pandjie said.

While emphasizing the importance of mangroves as a shield for the shoreline, he said that the company, through the Pertamina Foundation, had collaborated with the BRGM on its mangrove restoration program in several sites along the Mahakam coastline.

He acknowledged that collaboration among different stakeholder, including NGOs and local communities, was also a challenge because not everyone was fully aware of the importance of conserving mangroves.

The need for livelihoods has prompted many living in coastal areas to chop down the mangrove trees and convert the land to shrimp ponds. “Our presence is to strengthen the institutions that will educate local residents so that we have the same perception and vision to conserve mangroves sustainably,” he said.

“We have been collaborating with the BRGM for a long time and we welcome with open arms to explore further collaboration opportunities,” he said.

PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) environmental protection manager Lutfi Abdul Aziz said that industry producing emissions were obliged to control the emissions to support the government’s net-zero target. “With the government’s efforts to rehabilitate mangroves, companies should naturally be involved. This means opening opportunities for collaboration,” he said.

According to him, a mangrove rehabilitation program included planting trees, nurturing them and developing the economic benefits.

Mature planning

Inalum ran the program in collaboration with NGOs, local communities and administrations, which was based on mature planning to prevent the planting from the failure in the middle of the program.

Therefore, it is important to ensure the economic benefits that local communities could generate from every mangrove restoration program. 

With mature planning, it is hope that the mangrove restoration program will run optimally. “Above all, local communities can be economically self-reliant and can continue the regreening program when it is handed over to them,” he noted.

“Looking ahead, it is highly possible to collaborate with the BRGM,” he said.

Hary Basuki, senior development officer from Global Affairs of Canada, explained how collaboration with the BRGM was aligned with the Canadian government’s commitment to environment conservation, which manifested in its support for Indonesia’s efforts to conserve mangrove ecosystems.

Canada is one of the signatories of the Paris Agreement, whose central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping global temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels this century and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further, to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“I remember what someone from Bangka Belitung said, ‘the mangrove ecosystem can save the soul of the people from the region.’ But I think not only the soul of a group of people there, but also that of global people.”

As such, Canada is also committed to collaborating with other countries, including to fight the impacts of climate change.

“The ecological benefits of well-conserved mangrove ecosystems in Indonesia will have a  positive environmental impact, not only on Indonesia but also globally because there is interconnectedness,” he said.

Arif Rahmadi Haryono, CEO of DMC Dompet Dhuafa, an Islamic philanthropic organization, acknowledged that only a small portion of the funds sourced from zakat, sodakoh and waqaf  (religious alms) that the organization collected from the Muslim community, were earmarked to finance environment-related projects due to the people’s lack of awareness about environmental protection issue. 

“We use most of our funds that we manage for financing social, economic, education and health programs,” he said.

In the context of mangrove protection efforts, Dompet Dhuafa has been focusing on rehabilitating mangroves in Java’s coastline areas, which face severe mangrove degradation. “We help local communities in Pacitan, which is at a high risk of tsunamis,  to prepare mangrove seedlings by injecting capital into the mangrove restoration program there,” Arif said.

According to him, the potential funds sourced from zakat, a mandatory donation of 2.5 percent of a person's annual savings, alone reached between an estimated Rp 110 trillion.

“We will be pleased to work together with the BRGM to restore mangrove ecosystems in Indonesia,” he noted.

Head of BRGM Hartono explained that BRGM in rehabilitating mangroves certainly cannot work alone. BRGM has limited human and financial resources. Of the 600 thousand hectares of mangroves that must be rehabilitated, we must start 200 thousand hectares of mangroves with planting and then maintenance for the sustainability of the mangrove function. Therefore, collaboration with multiple parties will be very helpful government.

Of course, the collaborating parties have strong finances because rehabilitating mangroves is not easy, they also have a target location and good communication with the community around the target location. BRGM will facilitate the feasibility of locations and techniques for planting and maintaining mangroves. Hartono added.