Climate Mitigation by Sustainable Reforestation with Long Term Livelihood Programs – Indonesia

This projects implements a community-based model for the restoration of mangroves in central Java. The initiative consists of planting mangrove trees to prevent the erosion of the region’s coastline, as well as implementing other interventions that will also work to reestablish vital economic and nutritional fisheries. “Climate Mitigation by Sustainable Reforestation with Long Term Livelihood Programs” mitigates and adapts to the effects of climate change while building the resilience of the local urban poor.

Fast facts:

3,150 hectares of mangrove forests to be rehabilitated over the next five years;
94,000 beneficiaries in Brebes coastal areas;

The problem

Brebes in Indonesia’s northwestern Central Java has one of the most vulnerable coastlines to erosion and sea-level rise in Indonesia. The majority of Brebes’ population lives within the low-lying coastal zone, with fishing and aquaculture as their main source of income. An ineffective response to climate change could potentially have devastating impacts on the socioeconomic activities of the region. Yet past reforestation projects have been ineffective in the long term due to the fact that local participants have had no economic incentive to maintain the young mangrove forests until they mature.

The solution

This project will restore mangroves along Brebes’ coastline while also creating and supporting economic incentives to maintain their growth. These include the sustainable redevelopment of shrimp ponds incorporating combinations of milkfish, shrimp, and crab culture, with seaweed and mangroves as fodder.

Implemented by the Indonesian Rainforest Foundation and Planete Urgence in collaboration with Brebes’ local government, the mangrove replanting and maintenance initiatives have been coordinated with local populations in mind. They will be taught how to maintain the mangrove nurseries and how to use the solar-powered pump irrigation system.

Helping the planet

The specialized root systems of mangroves traps and hold sediments, and promotes proper siltation and deposition, helping stabilize coastlines. An intact coastline reduces exposure to natural disasters and damage from storm surges, waves, tidal currents, and erosion.

The restoration of mangroves helps conserve and protect coastal areas, particularly against the increasing effects of climate change. Healthy mangrove forests also play an important role in storing organic biomass and filtrating organic pollution in near-shore areas.

Helping people

Conserving and restoring mangroves, as well as the introduction of income-generating activities, will enhance the resilience of local communities while improving and sustaining their income opportunities. Transformational long-term changes will occur by reducing the vulnerability of local communities and individual households who depend on fishing, aquaculture and mangroves for their livelihoods.

Scaling up

This project aims to be a pilot model on the northern coast of Java island, for the protection of coastal communities and areas through the establishment of an economic mangrove “greenbelt” along this shoreline. Reforestation projects are already being undertaken elsewhere, involving the regeneration of decimated rainforest locations, particularly on remote islands.