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Top1. Introduction
Mangrove forests provide subsistent nutrition for basic life. It also provides commercial products that can be used as a source of income for local communities. Damage to mangrove forests will result in the loss of income and will lead to social conflict (Paul, 2006). Mangrove forests are a shared resource where everyone can take advantage of. The nature of joint ownership in mangrove forest management is what causes the emergence of complex issues in the management of mangrove forest resources. The utilization of mangrove forests that gives negative impact tends to cause damage to mangrove forest ecosystem. This is demonstrated by several studies, including Hue and Scott (2008) who stated that the use of mangrove forest land for the rapidly growing shrimp farming in central Vietnam causing environmental damage and degradation, as well as high water pollution. Damage to mangrove forests causes shrimp farmers who had invested in high capital to have more debt than poor cultivators who had sold their ponds. The research findings of Truonga and Dob (2018) recommended that a mangrove forest conversion policy in the Mekong River delta of South Vietnam of 40% for shrimp farming activities should be enforced. It was based on the weak policy on mangrove management contracts with households. The result of analysis showed that shrimp culture production would reach optimum if coverage of mangrove area was 60%. The finding about serious exploitation of mangrove forests was also presented by Eleanya et al. (2015) on the Akassa Island of Nigeria. It was stated that mangrove forests had been used as a source of livelihood for households. Therefore, there should be awareness activities on sustainable forest management. Meanwhile, the findings of Feka (2015) in mangrove forest management in West Africa had referred to several international conventions as well as laws that supported the management of mangrove forests. However, in practice, there were still a high amount of mangrove timber cutting for household purposes. The same thing happened at the research site, Prigi Gulf of Trenggalek area, where the existence of mangrove forest could only be found at Damas Beach and Cengkrong Beach. The decrease of mangrove forest area in Prigi Gulf occurred in the period of 1998 until 2008. Mangrove forest rehabilitation efforts in Prigi Gulf had been started since 2003. However, the conversion of mangrove forest into coconut plantation in Damas Beach was still running (Purwanti et al., 2018).
According to Rahman and Asmawi (2016), the lack of local community awareness efforts in Kuala Selangor on the biological and economic values of mangrove forests resulted in a weak participation of the community in mangrove forest management. Therefore, environmental education is very important to improve understanding and awareness of the community about mangrove ecosystems. Furthermore, Romanach et al. (2018) stated that efforts to restore mangrove forest which functioned as a buffer for marine and coastal life should be accompanied by commitment from many parties, namely the protection of government through the policies and the involvement of the proactive community in managing mangrove forests. According to Abdullah et al. (2014), rehabilitation and management of mangrove forests in Malaysia could be done through the community-based conservatian (CBC) approach. He further explained that the implementation of the CBC approach was an adaptive management that involved local communities, community institutions and NGOs.
Rehabilitation and management of mangrove forests has shown to be successful in several regions in Indonesia. In Kerawang of West Java, Indonesia, the conservation of mangrove forest was implemented through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Program of PT Pertamina Hulu Energy Offshore of North West Java. Collaboration of private institutions, local government and community empowerment were crucial factors in successful mangrove conservation in Kerawang (Randy et al., 2015). Successful management of mangrove forest in Ambon Dalam Gulf happened because the community was able to adapt and modify the environment as a form of cultural capital (Salampessy et al., 2015).