As International Day for Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem is celebrated on 26 July, so today I decided to write a report related to mangrove and its benefits. 

The word mangrove comes from the word 'mangue' (in Portuguese) which means plant and 'grove' (in English) which means grove. Meanwhile, another literatures said that the origin word of mangrove from the word 'mangi-mangi' (in Malay). Basically, mangroves are costal forest ecosystem consisting of a group of trees that live in a high salinity environment. Mangroves are one of the kinds of wetlands which are grow in interdal zones in tropical and subtropical regions. One of the characteristics of mangroves is have roots that emerge to the surface of land.

Mangroves divided into two groups known as true mangroves and associate mangroves. True mangroves are highly adapted to the intertidal zone where all or part of them are regularly submerged in saltwater. Globally, there are approximately 69 species in 27 genera, belonging to 20 families that are considered as true mangrove species. Whilst, associate mangroves found in mangrove forests and should be included as mangrove species for the purpose of conservation management and can greatly increase the potential of mangrove forests as an ecosystem-based adaptation approach. They are highly adapted to salty conditions, but less so than true mangroves, and will only tolerate infrequent inundation by saltwater during extremely high tides or wave run-up due to storm events.

Various types of mangroves found in 123 countries that have a tropical and subtropical climate over 1.2 million hectares globally. Mangroves spread from the continents of America, Africa, Asia, to Australia. Although the area of mangroves' distribution is quite wide, but only the tropical mangroves have high species density. More than 1/3 of the tropical mangroves area are in Southeast Asia. From all of that amount, Indonesia has more than 25% of that, thus Indonesia becomes the largest area of mangroves in the world. In Indonesia, mangroves grow in the alluvial soils in coastal areas or estuaries which are influenced by sea tides. Indonesia has 202 species of mangrove plants, i.e 89 species of trees, 44 species of soil herbs, 44 species of epiphytes, 19 species of climbers, 5 species of palms, and 1 species of ferns. There are approximately 3 million hectares of mangroves areas grow along 95.000 kilometers on the coast of Indonesia.

Nevertheless, mangroves are still not utilized optimally in Indonesia. The main causes of mangrove loss in Indonesia include conversion to shrimp ponds, logging, conversion of land to agriculture or salt pans, and degradation due to oil spills and pollution. As a result, mangroves areas are decreased every year. It's because there are so many people who don't know that mangroves play an important role for the survival of humankind and animals. Mangroves have a lot of benefits and usefulness for our lives. The following informations are some functions of mangroves we all should know :

1.     Prevent the occurrence of abrasion. Mangroves grow along the shoreline as if separate the ocean and the land. The existence of mangroves inhibit the waves and winds coming from the sea, so its not hit the land directly, reducing erosions, attenuating waves, and even reducing the height of storm surges.

2.    Absorbs carbon dioxide. Mangroves are forest with carbon content in the tropics. Mangroves are capable of storing 3 times more carbon per hectare than the highland tropical forests.

3.      Prevent global warming. Global warming is a very serious threat to nature and human being. One way to prevent or reduce the impact of global warming is to develop mangroves area. Mangrove plants become one of ways to prevent global warming from marine waters.

4.     Provide food and materials. Mangroves are breeding ground for fish, shrimp, crabs, mollusks, and other animals. The presence of mangroves is positively correlated with local fishery production. Many commercial high-value fishes rely on mangrove for regeneration. In addition to food sources, mangroves can also serve as building materials and industries. Mangroves' wood can be used as material for premium paper. Firewood from mangroves is also famous for high quality.

5.      Sources of biodiversity. Mangroves are source of germplasm and biodiversity. In addition to fish, this forest became the habitat of various animals life from the common to the endangered species. Starting from bird species to primates.

6.       Sources of income for coastal fishermen. People who live in coastal areas usually work as fishermen. They are looking for shrimp, fish, crabs, and various species of fish from the mangrove ecosystem to sustain their economy.

7.    Development of tourism area. Mangroves areas can be developed into one tourist attraction. In this way, the mangroves will become a tourist destination of various regions and abroad. Tourism will have an excellent economic impact on the surrounding community and the country in particular.

Based on the description above, actually, there are many more functions and usefulness of mangroves. However, the point is that mangroves are natural resources with a great potential to support the survival of living creature. Therefore, let's maintain the balance of the mangrove ecosystems. By preserving mangroves, it will stabilize the environmental conditions and also save the habitat in mangroves.

Sources :

https://www.jurnalbumi.com/knol/hutan-mangrove/

https://www.nationalgeographic.co.id/berita/2017/10/7-fakta-penting-mangrove-yang-harus-anda-ketahui

https://www.web.unep.org/coastal-eba/content/mangrove-conservation-and-restoration