MINISTERS PLANT MANGROVES ON ARTIFICIAL ISLAND

Sidoarjo, East Java, Jan. 30 (ANTARA) - A mangrove tree planting drive was launched by three cabinet ministers on an island formed from Lapindo mud at Muara Sungai Porong, Sidoarjo, on Saturday.

Marine and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad who was accompanied by Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto and Environment Minister Mohammad Hatta, said on the occasion the aim of the mangrove tree planting was to protect the coastal areas of Sidoarjo district.

The mangrove planting activity was also conducted to derive maximum benefit from the bank in the Porong River's estuary that had formed by years of sedimentation from the channeling of the Lapindo mudflow into the river, he said.

Mangrove forests fulfill environmentally beneficial functions because they, among other things, absorb pollutants, protect coast-lines and prevent soil abrasion.

Between 80,000 and 100,000 cubic meters of mud that had flown from the Lapindo gas field leak over the past three years have now become an artificial island measuring 83 hectares in the mouth of Porong River.

Minister Fadel Muhammad also hoped that local people could benefit from the fish, shrimps and mollusks that would eventually populate the water under the mangrove trees.

Indonesia currently has mangroves on a total areas of 9.36 million hectares, 3.7 million hectares of which are inside forests and 5.66 million hectares outside forests.
However, around 70 percent of the mangrove area has been damaged of which 48 percent (about 4.51 million ha) are moderately damaged.

From 2003 to 2009, the marine and fisheries ministry had planted a total of 1.4 million mangrove trees on a total of 280.1 hectares of coastal area.