EARTH DAY for GLOBALWARMING

Head of Forestry Department of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Joseph Diaz said, about 9989 hectares (2.25 per cent) of mangrove forests in the province was damaged from the existing 40,695 hectares.

"From the 40,695 hectares of mangrove forest in the NTT has been a lot of pressure due to mangrove deforestation by communities to the need of building materials, firewood," he said in Kupang, Sunday (16 / 8).

According to Diaz, the results of a survey conducted Forest Service, university Nusa Cendana (Undana), and Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB) mentions, the potential of mangrove in East Nusa Tenggara large enough to be found in the waters off eastern Indonesia.

In this region, this ecosystem at some locations more prominent when compared with other coastal ecosystems.

Mangrove forest in NTT is not as much as on the larger islands in Indonesia due to natural conditions in NTT which limit the growth of mangrove, such as the lack of a large estuary on the NTT that mangrove growth that is very thin.

"In some locations mangroves can grow well because it supported a large estuary with a high sedimentation in the estuary of the river as Benenain in Belu district and river estuaries Noelmina in Kupang district," he said.

Former Head of Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedalda) NTT is further said, the Forest Service survey, UNDANA, and IPB also managed to identify 11 species of mangrove on the island of Timor, Rote, Sabu, and Semau.

"The survey results were also found in mangrove forests NTT, there were approximately nine families that are divided into 15 species of mangrove genjah (Rizophora mucronata), a small mangrove (Rizophora apiculata), mangroves tancang (Bruguera), mangrove fires (Avecinnia), mangroves jambok (Xylocorpus), mangrove bintaro (Cerbera mangkas), mangrove wande (Hibiscus tiliacues), "he said.

However, the existence of this species, as one source of coastal and marine resources of NTT, which threatens the capacity of degraded sustainable (sustainable capacity) in support of regional development.

In NTT, the degradation of coastal resources and the sea is caused not only by human factors, but also by natural factors, such as changes in temperature and salinity, sea water, climate change, and strong waves.

But from the data obtained, the more damage and more severe due to the influence antropogenic (human activity), such as oil spills and waste, excess fishing (overfishing), the mining of coral reefs, conservation of the ponds, and fish bombing and cyanide of potassium.