Biak Island lies within the West Papua region of Indonesia. At the center of the coral triangle, Biak is home to the highest level of coral reef species diversity in the world. The diversity and health of the ecosystem is dependent upon mangrove health and longevity. With 75% of it’s mangrove estuaries deforested, Biak Island was in need of restoration before sedimentation runoff and loss of species diversity took a toll on the ecosystems in this region.

In partnership with Eden Reforestation Projects, SeaTrees has targeted approximately 46 hectares of degraded mangrove forest to restore in this region. SeaTrees supported mangrove tree planting in part of a larger 650 hectare site on Biak Island and is currently planting mangrove trees at smaller sites on the nearby Padaidori Island. Members of the Biak Island Region community primarily work as subsistence farmers and fisherpeople. In collaboration with Eden, local villagers are trained and provided living-wage jobs that aid in paying for healthcare and other economic needs. Child education, healthcare, gender equity, and food/hunger are all areas that are improving in these communities.

This project contributes to eleven of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Living-wage employment for local communities, large scale reforestation, and protection of diverse species are just a few of the many benefits provided by this project.

Process:
Eden Reforestation Projects has authorization from both Biak’s community Elders as well as the Biak Forestry Department. This alongside their National Foundation status with the Indonesian Government makes this reforestation project possible. Approval with multiple levels of government is crucial to starting this project on Biak. Eden helps to train local workers on the proper restoration techniques used for this project. Following training, proper supplies such as boats and farming tools are supplied to the workers to initiate the harvesting of propagules from adjacent healthy mangrove forests. An app known as “theodolite” is used to to take photos with the exact GPS location and other site identification data of each hectare of planting sites. Periodic crab predation damages some propagules and workers are responsible for replanting these particular propagules at a fresh site. The last step involves a well-trained monitoring team consistently measuring survival rates, growth, health, and natural regeneration on an annual basis. Sustainable Surf/SeaTrees members visit the site to help with the monitoring processes both at initial planting as well as on an annual basis in order to validate the progress and address any potential issues that may arise. It is important to note that this project focuses on the monitoring of mangrove health and species diversity. While the coral reefs are just as important, we are not equipped to monitor the changes that occur in the reef at this time. It is still critical to keep the diverse coral reefs in mind as they are directly affected by the health of the mangrove forests that we are working to restore with this project.