Riau Soon to Have a Mangrove Ecosystem Restoration Design

Riau Province soon would have a mangrove ecosystem restoration design for coastal areas. Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara (YKAN), with support from PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia (PT CPI), has finished mangrove ecosystem studies for the basis in determining future restoration strategies and methods.

The results of the studies were presented in the “Online Workshop for the Result of Mangrove Ecosystem Study, Ecosystem Restoration Design, and Strengthening Mangrove Ecosystem Restoration Alliance (MERA)” (“Lokakarya Daring Hasil Kajian Ekosistem Mangrove, Desain Restorasi Ekosistem, dan Penguatan Aliansi untuk Restorasi Ekosistem Mangrove (MERA)”) on Thursday, July 23, 2020. This event was opened by the Governor of Riau, represented by Mamun Murod, Head of Environment and Forestry Office, and attended by related stakeholders of mangrove conservation and coastal management in Riau.

“For Riau Province, the need for sustainable integrated coastal ecosystem management strategies, especially for mangrove ecosystem, is very urgent. Because of that, we really appreciated that this online workshop is held to build integrated coastal management planning synergy in Riau,” said Syamsuar, Governor of Riau, in the written opening speech read by Mamun Murod, Head of DLHK. The Governor also expressed his gratitude to the MERA program for uniting parties, which incorporated in Riau MERA Forming Team and initiated the creation of the Riau Province Regional Mangrove Ecosystem Management Strategy Coordination Team.

This July, the Governor of Riau has formed the Riau Province Regional Mangrove Ecosystem Management Strategy Coordination Team. This step could support the acceleration of integrated coastal management in Riau through the MERA program framework. MERA is a national multi-party platform to restore the mangrove ecosystems in Indonesia.

“Over the past years, we observed that the beach abrasion has become a serious concern to the regional government in Riau Province. PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia also contributes to coastal area restoration efforts in Riau, which is hoped to leave positive ecological, social, and economic impacts in the long-term,” said Sukamto Tamrin, PT CPI Corporate Affairs Asset General Manager. Environment, he continued, is one of the main focuses of PT CPI’s community development program.

At present, MERA worksites in Riau Province are Dumai City and Bengkalis Regency, based on the cooperation between YKAN and PT CPI that was started in July 2019. “In mangrove ecosystem restoration efforts, appropriate restoration design is necessary. Restoration design needs to be based on data, information, and strong scientific consideration,” explained Herlina Hartanto, YKAN Executive Director. With regards to this, several studies for the basis in determining restoration strategies and methods, such as conservation implementation workshops, participatory mapping, stakeholder mapping, mangrove ecosystem observation, and hydro-oceanography, had been conducted. Restoration design must also be reviewed and calculated with various related parties to achieve overall outcomes.

Coastal and marine areas in Riau Province, aside from having fisheries and marine potentials, are also having quite high mangrove forest potential, covering an area of ±175,000 hectares ( BPS data, 2017). With this potential, Riau Province is hoped to be the center of mangrove ecosystem research and development in Sumatera Island. However, inadequate environmental capacities caused the reduction of those mangrove forests’ functions.

Ecosystem-based solutions in the context of climate change can give ‘triple-win’ benefits: reducing disaster risk effectively from the financial aspect, supporting biodiversity conservation, and increasing economy and human welfare. MERA is hoped to be the answer to an integrated and collaborative coastal management that unites all parties concerned about mangrove conservation.

Partnership development is also needed in mangrove ecosystem management, aside from rehabilitating the ecosystem physically. “The Government of Indonesia encouraged the establishment of partnership forum for mangrove conservation like MERA. It is hoped that in every region, including Riau Province, there would be a mangrove management coordination team and Regional Mangrove Working Group (Kelompok Kerja Mangrove Daerah or KKMD),” said Safri Burhanuddin, Deputy of Maritime Resources Coordination Sector of Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affair of the Republic of Indonesia, in the written opening speech read by Andreas A. Hutahaean, Head of Marine Conservation Management and Small Islands Utilization Sector of Maritime Resources Sector Deputy, Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affair. This development, he continued, is aligned with the mangrove ecosystem management orienting in integrated and sustainable programs.

About Chevron

Chevron adalah salah satu perusahaan energi terintegrasi dunia terdepan dan melalui unit usahanya di Indonesia, telah beroperasi di negeri ini selama lebih dari 95 tahun. Dengan inovasi dan komitmen karyawan kami yang sangat terampil dan berdedikasi, PT. Chevron Pacific Indonesia (PT CPI) menjadi salah satu produsen minyak mentah terbesar di Indonesia. Dari lapangan-lapangan minyak kami di Riau, PT CPI telah memproduksi lebih dari 12 miliar barel minyak demi memenuhi kebutuhan energi untuk pertumbuhan ekonomi Indonesia. Dalam mengoperasikan blok migas, PT CPI bekerja di bawah pengawasan dan pengendalian SKK Migas berdasarkan kontrak bagi hasil atau Production Sharing Contract (PSC). Informasi lebih lanjut mengenai operasi PT CPI dapat diakses melalui www.indonesia.chevron.com.