TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-The Indonesian Mangrove Restoration Foundation (IMARF) said that a reclamation island in the Jakarta Bay will endanger the existence of the capital's mangrove forest, which is already in a critical condition.
"The first thing they will do in order to build the reclamation island is destroy the mangrove forest," IMARF executive director Nurul Ikhsan said on Sunday, April 17.
The Jakarta coast lies over a length of 35 kilometers, of which only a little space of some 15 percent is occupied by mangroves in the Pantai Indah Kapuk area. Ikhsan said that during the Dutch colonialism era, Jakarta's mangrove forest size was 42,000 hectares, and now it had been reduced to just 4,000 hectares. Decades ago, the Dutch grew mangroves in Jakarta as a natural fortress to stem ocean waters.
Mangrove's growth, he said, is highly influenced by the stability ocean tides, which will be disrupted by the existence of a reclamation island. The island, he said, would raise the sea level, and affect the mangroves' lives.
MAWARDAH NUR HANIFIYANI
