The Men Behind Coral Reef Conservation in West Sumatra

The coral bleaching that hit part of the sea in West Sumatra in 2016 made Indrawadi Mantari and Mabruri Tanjung almost hopeless.

KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA

Indrawadi Mantari (right) and Mabruri Tanjung are sitting at the campus of Bung Hatta University in Padang, West Sumatra, Thursday (18/1).

The coral bleaching that hit part of the sea in West Sumatra in 2016 made Indrawadi Mantari, 47, and Mabruri Tanjung, 36, almost hopeless. The coral reefs they had spent years diligently planting were destroyed. Coral bleaching occurs when coral polyps expel algae that live inside their tissues, often as a result of global warming. Since 2016, the impact of coral bleaching in West Sumatra and elsewhere is greater than in the preceding years.

Bleaching has been observed in the Pieh Marine Park since 1998. In 2000, starting with the phenomenon of red algae, coral bleaching also occurred in Mentawai Islands and part of Pesisir Selatan regency, West Sumatra.