Mangrove plant utilization by local coastal community in Indonesia

Abstract

As an archipelagic country amounted to 17,504 islands with about 95,181 km length of coastal line, Indonesia is endowed by about 3.2 million ha of mangrove forests from several meters to several kilometres in width, in which 70% of them have been destroyed. They are inhabited by about 202 species of plants (89 species of trees, 44 species of shrubs, 19 species of lianas, 5 species of palms, 44 species of epiphytes, 1 species of fern). For centuries, the Indonesian people have traditionally utilized mangrove plants to support their daily life. The main genera used are Rhizophora, Bruguiera, Ceriops, Avicennia, Nipa, and Sonneratia. Those various utilizations are as follows: (1) food and beverage (taffy, syrup, salad, “kecap”, “peyek”, chip, cake, tannin for cloth painting, sugar, jelly, “getuk”, starch/powder); (2) wood-based products (charcoal, housing material, firewood); (3) fodder (leaf of Sonneratia spp., Avicennia spp., Rhizophora spp.); (4) medicine (Acanthus tea, tonic of Rhizophora young root decoction, poison from Excoecaria agallocha saps, resin of Avicennia spp. for anti-fertility). Meanwhile, almost all of them use mangrove land for fishpond (tambak) with various models (silvofishery, open fishpond, agrosilvofishery, agrosilvofisherypastoral). Through the model of agrosilvofisherypastoral system they get agricultural crops, fish, firewood, meat, all at once. However, almost all of products are used subsistently, except for firewood or charcoal. Those products are still not well marketed because several reasons, such as less promotion, has not yet been clinically-tested for human health, less government attention, unstable raw material supply, etc. Recently, many groups of local coastal communities manage mangrove forest for ecotourism. In the near future, mangrove plants can enrich food diversity to strengthen food security in Indonesia.