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Mangrove ecosystems are vital for coastal protection and carbon storage, yet extensive degradation highlights the urgency of targeted rehabilitation. This study developed a spatially explicit habitat suitability model using freely available geospatial datasets to identify potential mangrove rehabilitation areas in the Mahakam Delta, East Kalimantan. The model integrated elevation, inundation frequency, and shoreline proximity within a random forest framework, achieving strong predictive performance (AUC = 0.898). Uncertainty analysis revealed higher variability in the lower delta regions, highlighting the need for additional field validation, while spatial autocorrelation analysis confirmed significant clustering (Moran’s I = 0.7604, p < 0.001), demonstrating spatial consistency in predictions. High-probability zones accounted for 14.58% of the total predicted rehabilitation area but overlapped with 79.02% of historical mangrove loss between 1995 and 2024, indicating substantial restoration potential. The resulting predictive map provides an evidence-based tool for prioritizing rehabilitation planning and fostering collaboration among researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders. Future improvements should incorporate real-time environmental data and participatory web-based platforms to enhance accessibility, adaptability, and scalability in advancing data-driven mangrove rehabilitation and sustainable coastal ecosystem restoration. Highlights A spatial mangrove habitat model using open-access geospatial data identifies potential rehabilitation areas. Random Forest algorithm effectively mapped suitable rehabilitation sites with high predictive accuracy (AUC = 0.898). High-probability areas can restore 79.02% of mangrove loss between 1995 and 2024 in the study area of Mahakam Delta, Indonesia, showing strong rehabilitation potential. Model validation and uncertainty analysis emphasize the importance of field assessment in specific regions. The predictive map offers a robust guide for collaborative mangrove rehabilitation planning and adaptive management.

Coastal lagoons are important geographic features because they provide various natural resources. Exploitative resource use and mismanagement may cause irreversible damage to the environment. This paper aims to review research and management based on the available spatial dataset in Segara Anakan, a rapidly shrinking lagoon in Indonesia, which is expected to disappear completely soon. We summarize knowledge from the earliest available publication in the 19th century (Dutch colonial time) to current times. There are three extreme patterns of changes: geomorphological, vegetation cover, and hydrological changes. These changes are basically interconnected. For example, the lagoon is continuing to shrink, while freshwater supply is higher than seawater supply, decreasing soil salinity. With this lesser saline environment, the understory mangrove species occupy and grow quick in the degraded mangrove area. Thus, mangrove seedlings have difficulty in surviving in competition with the understory plants. From this insight, a conceptual model was developed, and could be used in the management of the area. The available (spatial) data can be used to obtain more knowledge about the mangrove forest in the area.

Key message Mangroves in rapidly expanding Southeast Asian river deltas form floristically simple zones dominated by a few highly regenerative species adaptable or tolerant to rapid sedimentation and extensive river flooding. The size class distribution, community composition and spatial structure of five representative mangrove forests in the rapidly expanding Cimanuk river delta on Java were determined. These deltaic forests are species-poor (eight true mangrove species) and spatially segregated into three distinct floristic zones: (1) a fringing, low intertidal zone co-dominated by Avicennia marina and A. officinalis , with less abundant Bruguiera parviflora , Rhizophora apiculata , and R. mucronata ; (2) a zone transitional between the low and mid intertidal in which Avicennia and Rhizophora spp. co-dominate; and (3) a mid intertidal zone dominated by R. mucronata and R. apiculata . Numerically dominated by seedlings (52,500–73,500 seedlings ha −1 ) and saplings (5,268–5,660 saplings ha −1 ), all five forests are relatively young and actively regenerating. Positive correlations of tree stem diameter and tree height with soil organic matter and P concentrations, salinity, the soil C/N ratio, pH, and silt/clay composition highlight the importance of soil factors in sustaining forest growth. The low diversity and relative structural simplicity of these rapidly growing and regenerating forests may be attributed to adaptation or tolerance to flooding and the rapid sedimentation and seaward expansion of the delta.

Mangrove ecosystems in Indonesia offer vital ecosystem services, yet they face ongoing deforestation and degradation, stemming from natural and anthropogenic disturbances, such as sea level rise and urbanization. This research investigates the utilization of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) derived from mangroves as a means to balance economic development, improve community livelihoods, and promote environmental conservation. Specifically, the potential of mangrove forest food products as alternative livelihood measures is explored within the context of community-based conservation efforts in Muara Gembong, Bekasi Regency, Indonesia. The study focuses on two community groups, POKDARWIS Alipbata and Kebaya, engaged in mangrove conservation and NTFP production, such as mangrove chips and crackers, confectionery, mangrove juice, and mangrove syrup. Through Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, the research uncovers the strengths of community participation, the challenges of limited infrastructure and market transformation, and the opportunities for sustainable livelihoods and ecological restoration. From the mangrove ecosystem’s perspective, the FGDs also revealed the opportunity for the Muara Gembong site to be further expanded for mangrove planting and ecotourism. However, there is also  a threat from environmental disasters and illegal mangrove cutting. The study underscores the potential of mangrove NTFPs to contribute to food security, local economies, and conservation efforts while also highlighting the need for diversification, capacity-building, and equitable benefit-sharing.

The issue of plastic pollution in the marine environment is a matter of great concern. Our research presents pioneering findings on sub-surface microplastics in the Indonesian archipelagic waters. Data on microplastic presence in sub-surface water in the Indonesian Archipelagic Water is crucial for expanding our understanding of microplastic distribution from the surface to the bottom layers of the ocean, a research area that has been relatively overlooked. We discovered microplastic particles at 5 m depth below the surface through simultaneous pump method. The highest concentration of microplastics was discovered in Ambon, followed by North Java and North Sulawesi. In contrast, the lowest abundance of microplastics was detected in the Maluku Sea. These findings are consistent with prior studies establishing a relationship between human activity–as indicated by population density–and microplastic pollution. However, our results indicate that levels of microplastics in Ambon were significantly higher than those found in other sampled areas, particularly compared to North Java, which boasts the highest population density in Indonesia. This disparity is likely due to a faster seawater flushing rate and shorter water residence time in North Java relative to Ambon. The origins and pathways through which these microplastics are introduced into Indonesian archipelagic waters remain uncertain. Based on particle composition (52.73% fibers and 51.38% size <500 µm), it appears that they may result from either larger plastic items being broken down during transportation over long distances by prevailing currents from input from coastal areas or as a byproduct of local activities. Additional research is necessary to gain a comprehensive understanding of microplastic in water columns. This includes investigating the fate of microplastics and examining their impact on marine organisms within this treasured ecosystem. Moreover, it is important to develop methods for mapping the worldwide distribution of microplastics.

Methane (CH4) emissions in mangrove ecosystems may complicate the ecosystem’s potential carbon offset for climate change mitigation. Microbial processes and the mass balance of CH4 in mangrove sediment are responsible for the emissions from the ecosystems. This is the follow up of our previous research which found the super saturation of CH4 in the pore water of mangrove sediment compared to atmospheric CH4 and the lack of a correlation between pore water sulphate and CH4 concentrations. This study is going to investigate methane production pathways in the sediment of overwashed mangrove forests. Two approaches were used to study methanogens here: (1) the spread plate count method and the quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) method, and (2) laboratory experiments with additional methanogenic substrates (methanol, acetate, and hydrogen) to determine which substrates are more conducive to methane production. According to the qPCR method, methanogen abundance ranged from 72 to 6 × 105 CFU g−1 sediment, while SRB abundance ranged from 2 × 102 to 2 × 105 CFU g−1 sediment. According to the plate count method, the abundance of methylotrophic methanogens (the only group of methanogens capable of competing with SRBs) ranged from 8.3 × 102 to 5.1 × 104 CFU g−1, which is higher than the abundance of the other group of methanogens (0 to 7.7 × 102 CFU g−1). The addition of methanol to the sediment slurry, a substrate for methylotropic methanogens, resulted in a massive production of CH4 (up to 9 × 104 ppm) and intriguingly the control treatments with autoclaving did not kill methanogens. These findings suggested that mangrove ecosystems in the marine environment provide favourable conditions for methanogens and further characterisation of the methanogen involved in the process is required. As a result, future research in this ecosystem should include methane production in carbon offset calculations, particularly due to methylotropic methanogenesis.

Increasing carbon sequestration in mangrove ecosystems has several benefits, including a potential role in climate change mitigation. However, mangroves are also known to emit methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas, and the net climate change benefit of planting mangroves is not yet fully understood. In this research, I investigated pore-water CH4, a proxy for CH4 production and export, in a mangrove rehabilitation area on an Indonesian tropical island. Initially, I established a new pore-water extraction method that is simple, cheap and reliable. This sampler was used to measure pore-water CH4 in several mangrove rehabilitation sites on a tropical island in Indonesia. The pore-water CH4 concentrations were very high (20 to 30,000 times the saturated value). However, my estimates of the CH4 fluxes at the soil surface were very low, which agreed with previous studies. Therefore, I surmised that the exceptionally high levels of CH4 in the pore-water would be exported not only through the sediment-air interface, but also by lateral tidal flow and especially via mangrove stem (sediment-root-stem-lenticel pathways). Temperature and pore-water chemistry were found to be ideal for CH4 production, thereby implying that the major constraint was substrate supply. This was confirmed by the finding that the pore-water CH4 concentration was associated with the stage of the mangrove regrowth, and roughly followed mangrove forest productivity, with the highest pore-water CH4 concentration at intermediate stand ages. This was also confirmed by the dominant pathway of CH4 production that was through the degradation of methylated compounds (supplied by mangrove vegetation), rather than via acetate or CO2/H2. Thus, this study indicates that mangrove vegetation plays a critical role in CH4 production.