Type | Social, Humanitarian, Environment, Philanthropic Organization |
---|---|
Founded | Started in 2013 |
Founder | Tomy Winata |
Mangrove Care Forum Bali (MCFB), also known as Forum Peduli Mangrove Bali (FPMB), is formed with the aim to protect, preserve, rehabilitate, replant and educate, as a concerted effort to save the mangroves. Supported by the Artha Graha Peduli Foundation, the team at the Mangrove Care Forum Bali draws from 16 years of experience the foundation has in caring for and operating the Tambling Wildlife Nature Conservation Park, located at South Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, within 356,000 hectares of Tropical Rainforest and 21,600 hectares of Marine Nature Reserve.
The mangrove forest under the care of The Mangrove Care Forum Bali is located in the Ngurah Rai Grand Forest Park, a 1,373.5 hectare mangrove forest at the Benoa Bay Area in Bali. The mangrove forest suffers from severe pollution and misuse, & debris and rubbish from nearby villages. Deforestation of trees and littering its grounds are a common sight. The focus of the Mangrove Care Forum Bali is to involve the communities surrounding the mangrove and enlist regular help to clean up and create a safe environment for plants and marine life to thrive. A further goal is to prevent further abrasion of coastline and to regrow the affected areas to lush mangrove vegetation.
Initiated by Tomy Winata at the start of 2013, the Mangrove Care Forum Bali is established in partnership with:
Cristiano Ronaldo, the famous Portuguese footballer, has been appointed the ambassador for this movement to conserve mangrove by the Mangrove Care Forum Bali. He came on board because of the mangrove forests’ ability to help buffer against tsunamis, a cause he dearly supports after witnessing first-hand the devastation of the tsunamis when he visited Aceh after the 2004 tsunami. He met up with the 8-year-old boy who was found alive after 19 days at sea, dragged out by the unforgiving tsunami, wearing a Portuguese football jersey. Martunis survived on puddled water and dried noodles and was reunited with his father and grandfather. His story was later recounted in a book published by Radio 68H ‘Lolos dari Maut Tsunami’. [2]
The Benoa Bay mangrove forest is both primary and secondary vegetation, meaning parts of it have never been cleared or removed while parts have regrown after the natural and human assisted destruction of the original vegetation. It suffered damage from pollution and construction projects. Mangrove forests can serve as a natural barrier to tidal erosions, and are oxygen providers and a safe haven to many species. The Mangrove Care Forum Bali helps to conserve and nurture life along this coastal sanctuary, and has set 5 key goals in furthering its efforts:
The Mangrove Care Forum Bali aims increase community awareness regarding the preservation of the Ngurah Rai Grand Forest Park in the long. Education plays a part and the Mangrove Care Forum Bali plans to start an Early Environment Education programme. This activity is targeted at students from elementary level to high school, and plans to reach out to communities around the Benoa Bay area. The methodology and materials of environment education will be adapted to local context (language, case studies and photos) and be part of the regular school curriculum. The Mangrove Care Forum Bali, in collaboration with Universities, Ministry of Forestry and experts in the conservation fields, will develop modules that can be incorporated and accepted by all levels of participants. [3]
The programme to clean up the beaches had already started in March 2013 with daily activities involving students and the community at large, with the aim of reaching 1,373.5 hectares of mangrove in 5 villages in Benoa Bay.
Indonesia is an archipelagic country with more than 17,000 islands and 95,181 km of coastline, of which about 6,000 islands are inhabited by over 238 million people. In the 1980s, there are more than 4.2 million hectares of mangroves but half of that coverage has been lost by the end of the 1990s. For centuries, the Indonesian people have relied on the resources provided by the mangroves, for firewood, charcoal, tannin, dyes, food and beverages, medicine, pole and timber. In the early days of commercialization, fishing and charcoal production made the basic economic activities. Now, millions of hectares of mangrove forests are lost to agriculture, oil palm plantations and fish farms, making coastal communities vulnerable to the force of tropical storms and loss of livelihood and products.
In 2011, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) detected 23 tropical cyclones off the coast, which produced high speed winds, heavy rains, and storm surges that caused flooding and structural damage to buildings and coastal infrastructure. Mangroves are adjacent to major landmasses and big rivers in Indonesia, and mostly found on the coasts of large islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua. The island of Java, where approximately 130 million people live, is particularly vulnerable to tropical storms.
In 2007, the Indonesian Forestry Ministry established 2 centres for mangrove development. During 2010 and 2011, the centre on the island of Bali planted 8,000 new mangrove trees, and the other centre, in the city of Medan on the island of Sumatra, put in 10,000 new plants. These efforts paled against the continual destruction of the coastal forests in the name of urban development, mainly for agricultural expansion. The realisation and urgency that we need to step up efforts in preserving the mangrove forests is what led to the formation of the Mangrove Care Forum Bali. [4] [5]
The Ngurah Rai Grand Forest Park is a vast green area located in Benoa Bay. The coast is filled with diversity in nature’s ecosystem, including but not limited to:
Benoa Bay is a tidal estuary located on the southeast coast of Bali. The estuary is protected by the narrow sandy Benoa Peninsula which protrudes northwards from the southern tip of the harbour and which closes off the entire southern portion of the estuary. Serangan Island which is located to the north partially closes the remainder of the estuary except for a one kilometre navigable stretch of water that separates the southern tip of the island from the Benoa Peninsula. The northern tip of the island is separated from the mainland at high and mid tides by a very shallow straight which is 400 metres at its narrowest point. The entire coastline is protected by an extensive coral reef system that runs continuously apart from a very narrow (200 metre) channel at the harbour entrance at the northern tip of the Benoa Peninsula.
The human feature of the Bay is the Benoa Port facility located on reclaimed land in the middle of the estuary, and the connecting causeway that stretches 3 kilometres north to the mainland. The causeway being a solid barrier has greatly affected the natural flushing of the bay by tide and stream discharge. Benoa Bay is lined with a mangrove forest that has suffered depletion due to development and land reclamation. Estimates are that 50% of the mangrove forest has been lost since 1980 as a result of development. There are many fresh water rivers flowing into the estuary, predominantly those draining the central plains and mountain ranges to the north, and to a lesser extent from the southern Bukit Plateau.
Benoa Bay suffers from a number of serious environmental problems and in a sense, similar to other estuarine environments, is a focal point for environmental impacts that originate elsewhere in the region. These problems range from eutrophication of the estuary due to nutrient loading through to biological pollution from untreated sewage effluent discharge.
Three of the fresh water rivers that enter Benoa Bay from the north originate in the agricultural heartland of Bali and reach the estuary after travelling through the highly populated urban centre of Denpasar. Agricultural runoff is particularly high in nutrients from fertilisers and manure from farm animals. In particular crop applications of urea, triple super phosphate and potassium chloride, as well as growth stimulant ZA are common in the catchment area. Fertilisers that are not directly absorbed in the rice fields are carried down through the irrigation system and eventually through rivers and out into the bay. All of the rivers entering the bay have large quantities of excess nutrients and the nutrient loading of the bay is evident with the visible growth of algae and uncharacteristic sea bed grasses. [6]
Bali is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan. The provincial capital, Denpasar, is the most populous city in the Lesser Sunda Islands and the second-largest, after Makassar, in Eastern Indonesia. The upland town of Ubud in Greater Denpasar is considered Bali's cultural centre. The province is Indonesia's main tourist destination, with a significant rise in tourism since the 1980s. Tourism-related business makes up 80% of its economy.
Alas Purwo National Park is situated on Blambangan Peninsula in the Banyuwangi Regency, at the southeastern tip of East Java province. The park is famous for its wild Banteng and surfing location at Grajagan Bay.
Denpasar is the capital of Bali and the main gateway to the island. The city is also a hub for other cities in the Lesser Sunda Islands.
Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangrove trees cannot withstand freezing temperatures. There are about 80 different species of mangrove trees. All of these trees grow in areas with low-oxygen soil, where slow-moving waters allow fine sediments to accumulate.
Nusa Kambangan island is located in the Indian Ocean, separated by a narrow strait from the south coast of Java; the closest port is Cilacap in Central Java province. It known as the place where the fabled wijayakusuma, which translates as the 'flower of victory' in the highest literary register of the Javanese language, grows. The wijayakusuma can be used to bring a person back from the dead, and the princes of the Sultanate of Mataram and later the Surakarta Sunanate sent to the island for the blooms in order to become kings. Thus the island is also known as pulau bunga-bungaan, the 'island of many flowers'. There is a forest reserve on the island. One of the main cultural events is Sedekah Laut, which is held by the Surakarta Sunanate every Satu Suro in the Javanese calendar. Since the Dutch colonial period, there have been a number of supermax prisons on the island, some of which still operational and run by Ministry of Law and Human Rights of Indonesia.
Environmental issues in Indonesia are associated with the country's high population density and rapid industrialisation, and they are often given a lower priority due to high poverty levels, and an under-resourced governance.
The Florida mangroves ecoregion, of the mangrove forest biome, comprise an ecosystem along the coasts of the Florida peninsula, and the Florida Keys. Four major species of mangrove populate the region: red mangrove, black mangrove, white mangrove, and the buttonwood. The mangroves live in the coastal zones in the more tropical southern parts of Florida; mangroves are particularly vulnerable to frosts. Mangroves are important habitat as both fish nursery and brackish water habitats for birds and other coastal species.
The flora consists of many unique varieties of tropical plants. Blessed with a tropical climate and around 17,000 islands, Indonesia is a nation with the second largest biodiversity in the world. The flora of Indonesia reflects an intermingling of Asian, Australian and the native species. This is due to the geography of Indonesia, located between two continents. The archipelago consists of a variety of regions from the tropical rain forests of the northern lowlands and the seasonal forests of the southern lowlands through the hill and mountain vegetation, to subalpine shrub vegetation. Having the second longest shoreline in the world, Indonesia also has many regions of swamps and coastal vegetation. Combined, these all give rise to a huge vegetational biodiversity. There are about 28,000 species of flowering plants in Indonesia, consisting 2500 different kinds of orchids, 6000 traditional medicinal plants used as Jamu., 122 species of bamboo, over 350 species of rattan and 400 species of Dipterocarpus, including ebony, sandalwood and teakwood. Indonesia is also home to some unusual species such as carnivorous plants. One exceptional species is known as Rafflesia arnoldi, named after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles and Dr. Thomas Arnold, who discovered the flower in the depths of Bengkulu, southwest Sumatra. This parasitic plant has a large flower, does not produce leaves and grow on a certain liana on the rain forest floor. Another unusual plant is Amorphophallus titanum from Sumatra. Numerous species of insect trapping pitcher plants can also be found in Borneo, Sumatra, and other islands of the Indonesian archipelago.
The New Guinea mangroves is a mangrove ecoregion that covers extensive areas of the coastline New Guinea, the large island in the western Pacific Ocean north of Australia.
The Liquid Jungle Lab (LJL) is a tropical marine research station on the island of Canales de Tierra on the western coast of Pacific Panamá along a primary marine biological corridor. The LJL research campus was completed in 2004 and is part of a private 3,500 hectare reserve composed of primary forest, mangroves, tide pools, and a rocky inter-tidal zone that transitions into fringing coral reefs.
The environment of Malaysia is the biotas and geologies that constitute the natural environment of Malaysia. Malaysia's ecology is megadiverse, with a biodiverse range of flora and fauna found in various ecoregions throughout the country. Tropical rainforests encompass between 59% to 70% of Malaysia's total land area, of which 11.6% is pristine. Malaysia has the world's fifth largest mangrove area, which totals over a half a million hectares.
Sembilang National Park is a national park covering 2,051 km2 along the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The park is dominated by swamps as peat forests, like the neighbouring Berbak National Park, and both parks are Ramsar wetlands of international importance. The park is considered to have the most complex shorebird community in the world, with 213 species recorded, and supports the world's largest breeding colony of milky storks. From Palembang to the Sembilang National Park needs one hour drive plus one and a half hour by boat and then one hour overland.
Global mangrove distributions have fluctuated throughout human and geological history. The area covered by mangroves is influenced by a complex interaction between land position, rainfall hydrology, sea level, sedimentation, subsidence, storms and pest-predator relationships). In the last 50 years, human activities have strongly affected mangrove distributions, resulting in declines or expansions of worldwide mangrove area. Mangroves provide several important ‘free services’ including coastal stabilization, juvenile fish habitats, and the filtration of sediment and nutrients). Mangrove loss has important implications for coastal ecological systems and human communities dependent on healthy mangrove ecosystems. This English Wikipedia page presents an overview of global mangrove forest biome trends in mangrove ecoregions distribution, as well as the cause of such changes.
Mangrove ecosystems represent natural capital capable of producing a wide range of goods and services for coastal environments and communities and society as a whole. Some of these outputs, such as timber, are freely exchanged in formal markets. Value is determined in these markets through exchange and quantified in terms of price. Mangroves are important for aquatic life and home for many species of fish.
Marine habitats are habitats that support marine life. Marine life depends in some way on the saltwater that is in the sea. A habitat is an ecological or environmental area inhabited by one or more living species. The marine environment supports many kinds of these habitats. Marine habitats can be divided into coastal and open ocean habitats. Coastal habitats are found in the area that extends from as far as the tide comes in on the shoreline out to the edge of the continental shelf. Most marine life is found in coastal habitats, even though the shelf area occupies only seven percent of the total ocean area. Open ocean habitats are found in the deep ocean beyond the edge of the continental shelf.
Australia has approximately 11,500 km2 of mangroves, primarily on the northern and eastern coasts of the continent. Areas where mangroves occur include the intertidal zone of tropical, subtropical and protected temperate coastal rivers, estuaries, bays and marine shorelines. Less than 1% of Australia's total forest area is mangrove forest.
Nypa fruticans, commonly known as the nipa palm or mangrove palm, is a species of palm native to the coastlines and estuarine habitats of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the only palm considered adapted to the mangrove biome. The genus Nypa and the subfamily Nypoideae are monotypic taxa because this species is their only member.
Tomy Winata ; born Guo Shuo Feng 郭說鋒 on 23 July 1958; is an Indonesian businessman with interests in banking, property and infrastructure, whose wealth comes from his business deals for the Indonesian Military. His philanthropic interests include the environment, particularly the Tambling Wildlife Nature Conservation a 45,000 hectare forest, endangered wildlife and sea conservation area, located in southern Sumatra.
The Artha Graha Peduli Foundation is an Indonesian social, humanitarian, environmental and philanthropic foundation whose activities began during the 1990s. It was founded in 2010 by Tomy Winata, an Indonesian businessman and philanthropist with a vision "to be able to feed at least three million people throughout Indonesia". The foundation focuses on environmental activities to mitigate the effects of global climate change.
Balembangan Forest Reserve is a protected forest reserve on Balambangan Island, off the northern tip of Borneo. The reserve is part of Kudat District in Kudat Division, Sabah, Malaysia. It was designated as a Class 1 Protection Forest by the Sabah Forestry Department in 1984. Its area is 371 hectares (3.71 km2). Balembangan's terrain is rugged and steep inland, with flat coastal areas of mangroves.