Yes2Do: Empowering Youth Movement To Save Mangrove Forest in Indonesia

Indonesia has a huge number of needy people living in and depending on coastal mangrove ecosystem for livelihood.  Important ecosystem service provided by mangroves includes protection against flooding, storm and tsunamis.  Mangroves thus support food security, climate change mitigation and human well being.  It has a coastal ecosystem that suffers from significant environmental degradation.  It is estimated that the adjacent mangrove forest had been reduced by 70% due to mangrove deforestation. While the economic benefit of mangroves is high, mangroves also serve as a unique and vulnerable component of a healthy coastal ecosystem.  However, an opportunity exists for the youth movement to take action in restoring and protecting these mangrove forests so that future economic and environmental benefit can be maintained.   The youth movement rehabilitated the local mangrove forest in Sulawesi village in order to reduce the impacts of climate change and to provide a healthy environment for the regeneration of near shore fish nurseries.

Together with youth movement, YES2DO project makes an impact through planting seeds that are provided by YES2DO.  This project is established by Yunita Kopjanski to address the preservation, restoration and sustainable management of forests in Indonesia.  The YES2DO project goal is to educate youth movement on the positive of sustainable development, ecological functions of mangroves including protection of coastline from seawater intrusion.  A robust, sustainable managed mangrove forest will not only improve local livelihoods, it will also protect the biodiversity of the area and mitigate future impacts from climate change.  Working together we can save the land that sustains us in Indonesia.  Follow YES2DO on tweeter: @ YES2SUSTAINABLE.