French media talks about Livelihoods’ mangrove project in Indonesia

Livelihoods’ mangrove restoration project in Indonesia, implemented with local NGO partner Yagasu, made the headlines this month in the French monthly magazine “Ca m’intéresse.”

Indonesia

XJ-30189.jpgTo date, this project has enabled the plantation of 10 million mangrove trees over 3,000 hectares and impacted 20,000 local villagers in Sumatra.

The project is especially pertinent when we consider the facts on the ground in this Southeast Asian country. Deforestation is the No. 1 cause of greenhouse gas emissions from Indonesia, named by the World Bank as the 3rd largest emitter on earth in a 2007 report. An archipelago of 17,000 islands, Indonesia is highly vulnerable to climate change. A study done in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami of Aceh, which killed 220,000 people, cited models showing that 30 coastal trees per 100 sq. m. can reduce the flow of a tsunami by 90%, according to a 2005 report in the journal Science.

XJ-30657.jpgThe benefits of this project are thus multi-faceted:

– It will assure the safety of local populations: Replanting coastal mangroves can significantly buffer coastal communities from future tsunamis

– Restore arable land: Intensive shrimp farms have deforested the mangroves, leading to a massive influx of saline water that prevents any growth of crops.

– Generate new economic activity: Villagers can earn extra income by selling the by-products of the mangroves (fish, mollusks, batik dye, honey, etc.

To find out more about the Livelihoods/Yagasu project, download the PDF pages of the article here:
Caminteresse0114.pdf