Community Participation in Mangrove Management for Coastal Disaster Mitigation: Evidence from an Indonesian Coastal City

Abstract

Environmental pressures are growing in Indonesian coastal areas, especially the rising occurrence of tidal flooding and degradation of the ecosystem due to global climate change. Although mangrove ecosystems are important natural protection, community participation is generally not considered as a key thrust in DRR, a gap that existing research has largely ignored. This study attempts to explore the role of community participation in the restoration of mangrove and disaster mitigation in the coastal area through combining the framework of community participation developed by Cohen and Uphoff with the Hazard–Vulnerability–Capacity (HVC) disaster risk model. The research used the qualitative type of case study in Mundu Pesisir Village, Cirebon. Triangulation methods such as semi-structured interviews with community leaders and government officials, field observations and longitudinal document analysis were used to gather data. Furthermore, the temporal changes in mangrove cover were estimated using spatial analysis by applying historical satellite data (2011-2025) along with Google Earth Pro and QGIS software. The results showed that there was a significant increase in the area of mangroves from 5,14 hectares in 2011 to 9,75 hectares in 2025 by having a multi-level community involvement. This ecological restoration had statistically significant results (p<0,05) with a decrease of the mean tidal flood reach from 190 meters to 100 meters, and an increase of the community capacity score from 2,15 to 3,85. The type of participation reveals that support in implementation and benefit sharing is fairly high (85% and 70%, respectively), while participation in monitoring and evaluation is still low (less than 30%). This study has reached the conclusion that the participation of the community is a main factor in the success of Ecosystem based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR). Building up participatory governance and formalising monitoring mechanisms will help increase community resilience to the coast and make them more sustainable in the long term.