HISTORY

MAP Indonesia was formed in 2000 shortly after Indonesian participants from MAP’s 3rd In the Hands of the Fishers (IHOF) workshop, in Trang, Thailand, returned home to Indonesia.

MAP Indonesia program was registered as Yayasan Akar Rumput Laut (Sea-grass-roots Institute) in January 2001. Its first major project was the development of a Coastal Community Resource Center (CCRC) with local fisherfolk and NGO partner, Yayasan KELOLA, in Tiwoho Village, Bunaken National Marine Park, North Sulawesi (photo).

Included in the project were:

• CCRC construction;

• mangrove rehabilitation of 25 hectares of disused shrimp ponds adjacent to the center;
• environmental education and curriculum development;
  
• development of sustainable livelihood alternatives, including improved cookstove production, bamboo utilization, and sustainable agriculture.
  
  

Multi-disciplinary programs have since become the hallmark of MAP Indonesia. In 2002, MAP Indonesia partnered with the Asia-Pacific Study Center (PSAP) of University of Gadjah Mada, in Yogyakarta, Central Java. Partnering with PSAP, which specializes in participatory action research, proved to be the perfect complement to MAP Indonesia’s pro-active community development work. To this day, MAP Indonesia shares an office with PSAP and initializes all programs based upon the research recommendations of the PSAP/MAP action research team.

The PSAP/MAP Indonesia collaboration led to the development of an action-research/problem-solving curriculum called:  Do Your Own Mangrove Action Project, which debuted at the 10th In the Hands of the Fishers (IHOF) workshop in North Sumatera, 2003.

CURRENT STATUS AND ACTIVITIES

In 2007, Yayasan Akar Rumput Laut officially registered as Mangrove Action Project Indonesia, a legal non-profit, non-governmental organization. Today, MAP Indonesia’s 8 staff members and team of Indonesian and international volunteers run education, conservation, restoration, and development programs in 5 provinces in Indonesia, as well as assisting MAP Asia in its work throughout the region.

MAP Indonesia Annual Report 2006 (2.9 MB)

Status Report on MAP-Indonesia in the RCL project
Ben Brown

The time has come for me to personally catch the MAP network up on what we are doing out here. 

First off – we are involved in a 5 year project called Restoring Coastal Livelihoods, funded to the tune of CAD 7 million by CIDA (6.3) and OXFAM-GB (0.7).  OXFAM-GB is also the chief responsible party on the grant.  We are working in 64 communities in four districts in South Sulawesi.  All of these districts had significant mangrove resources historically, but these were largely converted to brackish water milkfish and shrimp ponds.  Brackish ponds have been developed in this province over 400 years ago – and it has been said that this is where it all started in terms of milkfish and prawns.  Both the Bugis and the Makassarese are veteran fish farmers, and it is difficult here to preach EMR, although nowadays ponds are not at all productive.

We have a few large targets on this project – 1600 families need to double their income over 5 years, we need to pull off 400 hectares mangrove rehabilitation (all EMR-style), and improve management in 1600 additional hectares of intertidal and adjacent systems (mostly hinterland) although sub-tidal could come into play.

There are several other partner NGO’s working on this.  For our part, MAP is responsible for all of the EMR and the running of 64 coastal field schools.  We also have a few small programs like a media project called mangrove journal, and dabble a bit in advocacy, and environmental education.  Below I will synopsize our progress in these programmatic areas.

EMR

An awful lot of poorly planned Rhizophora planting projects in tidal mudflats (between Mean Sea Level and Lowest Gravitational Tide) take place in this Province.  A MAP consultant just did a special expose (written report and video) on one such project – which by chance was also funded by CIDA.  But we can’t raise the anti-poorly-planned-mangrove-planting banner too high yet, until we get a few positive examples under our belt.

Thank goodness for the communities of Tanakeke Island.  This island had 1700ha of mangrove coverage (an eco-type known as overwash mangroves), but lost 1200ha in the last 15 years due to pond development.  800ha of that total is their own, while 400ha were developed by the Transmigration Department.  Of that 800ha, we rehabilitated 45 in year one and another 130 in year two.  In year one we knocked 210 holes in dike walls, which was too many and did not encourage vital exchange of water.  We went back in this year and dug a long meandering tidal creek.  We also worked in two more sites this year (60 and 70 ha) strategically breaching dike walls and digging a meandering creek at one site, with no hydrological amendment at the other (all the walls were already dilapidated). 

We are promoting natural recruitment in all sites.  The island has a lot of Rhizophora stylosa and R. apiculata – due to community preference (clear-cutting for firewood and charcoal and replanting or natural re-seeding in most places) but they have lost their original biodiversity.  To address that, we are

initially helping with human assisted propagule dispersal, focusing on pioneer species (Avicennia marina and A. alba as well as Sonneratia ovata).   We also threw in a few Brugueira gymnorrhiza which like full sun, but aren’t the greatest pioneers, although they are found at slightly elevated substrate heights (which are rare on this overwash system) along with Ceriops tagal.  Last year – we didn’t have good recruitment of Rhizophora into the breached ponds, although nearby chronoseres 6 and 10 years old show good recruitment (>3000 seedlings per hectare).  Also planting some halophytic grasses to try and catch mangrove propagules and improve edaphic conditions. We’ll wait and see.

Next year, we will continue to rehabilitate Tanakeke Island til our 400 ha target is met, but we have also started to identify sites on the mainland.  In Takalar District we got a 12 hectare abandoned shrimp area which is high profile, at the entrance to an Environmental Education center (PPLH Puntondo).  We will work with local communities, universities, government and a few NGO’s including PPLH Puntondo – so that this effort is highly collaborative and geared toward learning about EMR and demonstrating it publically.

We are in negotiations with a University in Maros District who run a 23 ha aquaculture pond – hoping they will see the light and convert it back to mangroves for the sake of the community.  Nothing so far in Pangkep District, and negotiating for a small pond area with local government and a local owner in our northernmost working district of Barru. 

All the while, we are developing various tools (monitoring methods, EMR training curriculum) as well as gathering ecological and hydrological data, social data and economic data.  We are starting to engage local and foreign researchers to come and prepare in-depth studies of Tanakeke.

Ministry of Environment has made a film on EMR – and so have we, but none of it is very good yet.  I like the simple, moving slideshow that Dominic prepared in Thailand.  I want to imitate that – get a series going at MAP.

Coastal Field Schools

For an introduction to Farmer Field School – go to www.communityipm.org.  It is a very successful outreach methodology – which was supported in the early years by FAO and has made the rounds.  Unfortunately, it has nearly always been run inland – especially in the upper watershed.  IN bringing it to the coast, we brought field school trainers (from an organization called FIELD as well as government agricultural extension officers) to work with us and develop some innovative field schools.  To date, we’ve run 47.  Each field school has 25-30 participants, half or more women, learning how to improve management of a vital natural resource through hands-on, season-long field studies.  Experimentation is emphasized in this learner-centered approach.  We’ve run field schools on; salt-water tolerant rice, bamboo, non-timber forest products (Acanthus, Avicennia, Nypah), mangrove silvaculture, action-research problem solving, organic fertilizer, and brackish water fish farming.  We are now in the process of following-up with groups, to push for both improved areal management, as well as the development of small-businesses and products development (some distributed collection feeding into higher end

marketing, and some local marketing).  We are getting better each season, but still have a long way to go.  Really focusing on linking the groups to socially minded businesses.  Still far from increasing 1600 households incomes two-fold.

Other

In terms of advocacy – there is an RCL working group, but we don’t yet have clear advocacy messages.  I have recently suggested the following stance with regards to aquaculture and mangrove rehabilitation;

1.       No new conversion of mangrove ecosystems to brackish water aquaculture.

2.       Unproductive and abandoned ponds should be rehabilitated into mangroves using the EMR method.

3.       Mangrove planting projects (which frequently fail) need to stop and be replaced by more deliberate ecological rehabilitation programs.

4.       Government needs to provide more effective aquaculture extension and outreach in existing pond areas which are considered productive.  Effective outreach strives to increase social welfare of fish farmers, sustainable financial returns and improved ecological functioning and services.  Fish farmer field school should be the extension method of choice in affecting this change.

The project has a strong gender focus, and we are learning a lot from OXFAM-GB about incorporating gender considerations into all aspects of programming. 

In terms of environmental education – there is newly expressed interest by some partners and government for formal EE integrated into school curriculum.  This will be budgeted for year III and we are promoting Marvelous Mangroves along with some other local curriculum and our action-research problem solving method.

The Mangrove Journal program has resulted in some media pieces, but I have not approved any of them for circulation yet.  We don’t have a strong understanding of media production, and OXFAM’s own media is pretty shoddy in this project.  With so much going on – senior staff and management has not been involved enough in media development.  We’ve made a few films – including community video, but all sub-par.  This will have to improve.

Contact:

Ben Brown, Coordinator
seagrassroots@gmail.com
mapindo@gmail.com