T

he influx of newcomers to Pohuwato regency, Gorontalo, has led to the conversion of swathes of land, which threaten a renowned nature reserve in the area.

Located in Randangan district, Pohuwato, the Tanjung Panjang Nature Reserve has suffered biodiversity loss and ecosystem damage as thousands of hectares of its mangrove forests have been converted into fish and shrimp ponds.

Every year, new people come to Simanagi, in Siduwonge village, Randangan. Most of them come from several areas across South Sulawesi, although some are permanent residents of Simanagi, with families there. Others live there for a short time, but most arrive without bringing any documents.

“They don’t bring a residential transfer letter from their places of origin. They don’t have resident IDs either. So, we can only record their identities here,” said Irwansyah, head of Simanagi, one of five hamlets in Siduwonge.

Although it is empty and infertile land surrounded by a hot climate, Siduwonge, which is located around 190 kilometers from the provincial capital of Gorontalo, has long promised the hope of a better standard of living.

In Siduwonge, milkfish and shrimp ponds have expanded. The vast area of the ponds, which amounts to thousands of hectares, has affected the Tanjung Panjang Nature Reserve. The condition of the conservation area has been getting worse as a result of massive pond expansion.

Irwansyah said most of the newcomers became workers in the milkfish and shrimp ponds. The number of undocumented newcomers in the village amounted to an estimated 7,000 people, most of whom are from South Sulawesi.

Muhammad Nair, the patron of the South Sulawesi Family Association (KKSS) in Pohuwato, admitted fish and shrimp ponds in Siduwonge were a “new gold mine,” which could change their destiny. At least 13,000 members of the organization depended on the ponds for their livelihoods. Many of them enjoyed improved well-being and prosperity.

“Don’t let our economic improvement be hampered. Where should our wives, children and grandchildren go if there is no permanent livelihood? For the time being, they [the ponds] are an opportunity,” said Nair.

At the same time, however, he did not deny that the massive pond expansion had contributed to ecological damage, especially in the Tanjung Pandang Nature Reserve. This area not only contains mangrove forests and a diverse wildlife but is also a coastal defense, which protects Tomini Bay from the threat of tsunamis.

Nair further said individual residents could not be wholly blamed for the environmental destruction caused by the expansion because the opening of new ponds also involved government officials and security personnel, and even some Legislative Council members.

Based on Blue Forest Foundation data, out of a total of 3,000 ha of Tanjung Panjang Nature Reserve areas, only 400 ha of mangrove forest remains. Most of the forest areas have been converted into fish and shrimp ponds.

The mangrove-forest conversion has occurred since 1984 but from the beginning of 2000 until 2015, it went into overdrive.

Blue Forest Foundation director Yusran Nurdin Massa said the massive land conversion must be contained although that would not be easy.

Since the beginning of this year, Yusran said, his foundation together with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Natural Resource Advocacy and Management Network (Japesda) Gorontalo had carried out a series of surveys.

In the survey, he said, they examined Tanjung Panjang ecological conditions and recorded the social and economic conditions in the community. They contacted stakeholders, which included village and local administration officials, environmental activists and pond workers.

They also facilitated meeting forums among those parties, including the latest forum held in Gorontalo city on Aug. 2 to 3. In the two-day meeting, they strove to get best scenarios to restore the Tanjung Panjang Nature Reserve.

“We got at least three scenarios,” Yusran told The Jakarta Post. They comprise a thorough restoration, partial restoration of several vital parts and restoration of the greenbelt zone — 643 ha of areas that connect the nature reserve to protected forests.

“These three scenarios are just recommendations. We can select which one of the three is the best scenario to be implemented,” Yusran said, adding that the nature reserve still had the chance of being restored.