Indonesia home to 60 percent of world`s mangrove forests

Rasyid Assaf Dongoran, director of the Amanah Nature Conservation Foundation (Akasia), said here on Monday that 2.9 million hectares of Indonesia`s mangrove forests were located in Papua province, 195,000 hectares in South Sumatra and 150,000 hectares in East Kalimantan.

Maluku province had 100,000 hectares, Riau 95,000 hectares and North Sumatra 60,000 hectares. "We have to preserve our mangrove forests because they protect our coastal areas from the abrasice force of sea waves," he said.