The National Peatland and Mangrove Restoration Agency (BRGM) is upbeat about the president’s target of rehabilitating 34 thousand hectares of mangroves this year being achieved.

In a written statement here on Wednesday, Head of BRGM Hartono stated that his group will continue to plant mangroves in nine provinces: North Sumatra, Bangka Belitung, Riau Islands, Riau, West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, Papua, and West Papua.

“In order to expedite mangrove rehabilitation, we also involve local residents through the labor intensive method, so that the mangrove planting target can quickly be achieved,” he noted in response to President Joko Widodo’s statement while planting mangroves along with the residents at Raja Kecik Beach, Bengkalis District, Riau, on Tuesday.

According to Hartono, mangrove rehabilitation can preserve the ecosystem and also provide additional income to the people. Hartono remarked that the BRGM program can benefit the people by improving their standard of living and purchasing power that would make them prosperous.

“Thus, this is done not just to fix the mangrove ecosystem, but it also becomes the government’s efforts to drive acceleration of economic recovery post-COVID-19,” he elaborated.

As the country, with the widest mangrove area, specifically spanning 3.36 million hectares, mangrove rehabilitation conducted by the government is part of the efforts to protect the nation since the destruction of mangroves can have an impact in terms of climate change in Indonesia and the world.

Hartono highlighted that some 1.4 million mangroves, spanning an area of 464 hectares, had been planted in Bengkalis District by 24 groups comprising local residents.

Mangrove rehabilitation is conducted by BRGM along with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) through the River Flow and Protected Forest Area Management Agency (BPDASHL) in line with the National Economic Recovery (PEN) program.

Source: Antara News