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IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT a garbage-
strewn harbour bereft of fish, toxic
chemicals leaching from the debris into
the water. How many times have you
seen this in a news article? Last August I
visited Bahowo, a small village in North
Sulawesi, where that wasn’t the case
and it wasn’t a stroke of luck. It was a
stroke of intention.THE PEACE OF
RESTORATION
Text & images by Liz Cunningham
(except where noted)Villagers in North Sulawesi have
changed their fates by planting a
forest of mangroves, demonstrating
that we do indeed have the capacity
to turn things around on this planet
before it’s too latethe lush jungle filled the air. There were
hundreds of large mangroves, 5 and
10 metres tall. The stubby tree trunks
grew from large, arc-shaped roots half-
submerged in water. The labyrinthine
patterns of the roots cast circular
shadows on the water.
I slipped over the side of the boat
into waist-deep water and several
inches of sticky mud. The silky shade
was a welcome relief at the end of a hot
day. One of the soles on my shoes had
cracked slightly. When I took my first
steps in the mud, the suction was so
strong that the sole of the shoe came off
in the mud.
Oh, well. Too beautiful to worry
about the shoe. The last bit of light
flickered through the deep-green
mangrove leaves. The short rattling call
of a kingfisher sounded nearby.ABOVE The mangrove
seedlings are thriving
under the careful
protection of the local
communityABOVE RIGHT Populations
of endemic species, like
this black-billed kingfisher,
are also befitting from the
return of the mangrovesIt was dusk and we paddled an
Austronesian outrigger canoe through
shallow water. Two of the villagers,
Nyomen and Alexander, were taking me
to see some mangroves.
“We knew mangroves are nurseries
for juvenile fish and protect the coastline
from storms,” Nyomen told me. “If
we want more fish to return to this
coastline, we need the mangroves.” The
villagers were very happy when three
years ago university students came and
planted seedlings. Years before many
of the mangroves had been cleared to
build a lobster farm that failed, leaving
the coastline damaged.
Once we got out of the harbour,
Alexander started a small diesel engine.
We motored along the coast with a soft
chortle. To the left a large volcanic island
jutted out of the sea.
After a few minutes, Alexander
pointed the canoe towards shore and
stopped the engine. Silence. We glided
into a small water forest. Birdsong fromMAN & SEA