The impacts of coastal community activities on the existence of the Waranggui mangrove forest in South Manokwari, West Papua, Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract. Amir A, Maturbongs RA, Tapilatu RF. 2019. The impacts of coastal community activities on the existence of the Waranggui mangrove forest in South Manokwari, West Papua, Indonesia. Ocean Life 3: 54-64. Coastal areas are generally complex, both economically and ecologically. Various types of community activities involving the use of natural resources in coastal areas have impacts on the ecological sustainability of coastal areas, particularly mangrove ecosystems. Mangrove forests serve as coastal protectors against tsunamis, buffer erosion and sediment traps, recycle nutrients, ensure fishery productivity, reduce the rate of seawater intrusion, support health, maintain biodiversity, and provide habitat for other aquatic ecosystems. The Waranggui area, Oransbari Sub-district, South Manokwari District, West Papua Province, Indonesia, is one of the coastal areas with a mangrove ecosystem, known by the community as a mangrove forest or mange mange. It is rich in natural resources and widely used by people who live around it. The objectives of this study are (i) Determining the current area of the Waranggui mangrove forest cover in the Oransbari Sub-district and analyzing its changes related to community activities. (ii) Determining and analyzing the socio-economic dimensions and the diversity of local wisdom of the Waranggui Village community in utilizing the mangrove forest. This study was descriptive qualitative-quantitative and focused on a case found in the field. Researchers described the object under study based on the data and facts obtained at the time of observation and interviews. The data obtained were further tested by using non-parametric statistics. The type of data used in this study was both primary data and secondary data. The following conclusions can be drawn from research on the effect of coastal community activities on the Waranggui mangrove forest in Oransbari Sub-district, South Manokwari District: (i) The Data from the DJI Phantom 4 Professional Drone at a flying height of 200 meters and a resolution of 5.1 cm/pixel, yielded data on the Waranggui mangrove forest covering 384.76 ha. After subtracting the measurement of the open land area of 7.91 ha, the actual area is 376.86 ha. The difference in area between the maps is thought to be due to the interpretation of the coastline and the identification of mangrove forest coverage, as well as the map’s resolution. (ii) The variable factor’s total scoring value is 270. This demonstrates that socioeconomic factors have a significant impact on the destruction of the Waranggui Oransbari mangrove forest in the South Manokwari District. As many as 100 percent of the community said they knew about mangroves and that their condition had begun to deteriorate and that they needed to be treated.