The Tree of Life
Mangroves ecosystems in Indonesia: a strategic resource for a local sustainable economy and adaptation to climate change

by Elisabetta Zavoli

Supported by European Journalism Centre

Please visit www.fistfulofshrimps.com

“The tree of life” is a personal photo exhibition of photographer Elisabetta Zavoli, who has portrayed for 4 years (2012-2016) fishermen communities, on Java coasts (Banten and Central Java), who are restoring mangroves on their land.

This project was inspired by an article about the “Blue Carbon Ecosystems” from which Mrs. Zavoli learned that mangroves can sequester and store large quantities of carbon in both plants and sediments below the surface, thus being a strategic resource for the mitigation of Climate Change. Not only this, mangroves are critical along coastlines in order to support water quality, healthy fisheries and coastal protection against floods and storms, thus contributing to Climate Change’s adaptation for coastal dwellers.

With its 54,000 km of coastline, the Archipelago of Indonesia alone is home to a quarter of all the world’s mangroves. Yet, over the past 30 years, more than half of these forests have been lost to coastal development and fish and shrimp farming.
Considering that millions of Indonesians live on the coasts and rely their livelihood on sea products, mangroves conservation and restoration is of utmost importance for Indonesia.
This exhibition has been realized thanks to the support of European Journalism Centre.