JP/Markus Makur

Prior to and during the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York, United States, last month, there was an increasing recognition of the potential use of natural ecosystems for climate change adaptation and mitigation in addition to limiting fossil fuel consumption. For several decades, scientists have informed us of the crucial roles natural habitats play in regulating global climate. Yet, the area of natural habitats, particularly tropical forests, is declining at a rapid rate.

During the summit, 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, very bravely, reminded global political leaders that we may not achieve global climate targets in time if we don’t act now and listen to what science tells us.

In a short film released prior to the summit, she joined forces with environmental columnist George Monbiot and underlined the importance of natural ecosystems, such as tropical forest and wetland habitats, as one of the low-cost climate solutions. Degraded carbon-dense ecosystems such as mangrove and peatland must be first restored before we can move to other types of ecosystem.

What does this mean for Indonesia and can we contribute to this global movement?

With over 90,000 kilometers of tropical coastlines, Indonesia is one of the countries with the largest coastal wetland ecosystems, particularly mangrove forests and seagrass meadows. The two are called blue carbon ecosystems, or ecosystems that contain a high volume of organic carbon, and have long-term implications for greenhouse gas management once they are degraded.

The archipelago has approximately 3 million hectares of mangroves and seagrass with carbon storage equaling 6 percent of the carbon stored in the whole forest biomass in the country. Clearly, Indonesia’s blue carbon ecosystems play a significant role in carbon management.

We, therefore, must optimize the functions of our blue carbon ecosystems before they vanish due to pressures mainly from unsustainable land-use change.

The question remains because of the gap in the implementation of science-based policy for both mangroves and seagrass.

We have been working hard researching the potential of blue carbon ecosystems in Indonesia over the last few years. In 2015 for example, our research suggested that preserving the remaining mangrove forests alone could contribute 10 to 30 percent of the carbon emission reductions from the land-use sector.

Recently, our systematic review study suggested that converting mangroves into aquaculture — the most common driver of mangrove cover loss in Indonesia — leads to 53 to 83 percent of carbon stock loss per unit area. In other words, losing 1 ha of mangroves is equal to losing 3 to 5 ha of upland forest in terms of released carbon emissions.

While scientific evidence is available, it was not fully utilized in previous climate policy development. For instance, both mangroves and seagrass are not yet specifically included in our current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Clearly, our blue carbon ecosystems should become one of the primary candidates for national emissions reduction targets, particularly for land-based carbon emissions reduction.

Although the percentage contribution of blue carbon ecosystems is not as high as preventing emissions from peatland fires, every percentage of nature-based contributions is low-cost, efficient and matters to achieve the unconditional 29 percent emissions reduction target by 2030, as outlined in current NDCs.

Further, we should optimize mangrove restoration programs by implementing them in an effective and efficient way. Almost every month, many mangrove planting initiatives across the country are reported on in the news and social media.

However, for better mangrove regeneration outcomes, mangrove planting should be carried out in the right places. For example, places that used to be mangrove forests but have now become degraded.

When degraded mangrove forests are fully restored, the lost carbon is sequestered back into the ecosystems.

Unfortunately, the rates of this carbon recovery are way slower than the rates of carbon loss when mangroves are cleared or converted. Our findings suggest that it requires between 25 to 40 years for mangroves to bring back the lost carbon stock to the same level as the natural one.

As mangrove restoration programs are mostly implemented over a short-term period, both policy and investment are urgent to support more long-term mangrove restoration efforts. Long-term and large-scale mangrove restoration will not only contribute to mitigating climate change but also benefit coastal communities that are highly dependent on coastal habitats.

This year, the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration was declared, which aims to restore degraded ecosystems at massive and measurable scales between 2021 and 2030.

It is up to us if we want to use science and buy time to contribute to this global effort in tackling climate change. As Greta says, we cannot wait any longer, we must listen to science if we don’t want to see our only planet suffer in the future.

___________________

PhD candidate at the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia, and researcher with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

Popular

Kadin urges stability after Constitutional Court ruling

Jokowi says transition to new government to begi

BCA loan disbursement surges 17.1 percent yoy in first quarter