Mangrove Monitoring International Training

Mangrove health index (MHI) has been developed to propose a single metric for estimating forest community healthiness based on three main stand structure parameters, i.e. diameter, canopy coverage and density. The index was considered for representing mangrove ecosystems on an ecosystem scale since mangrove plant communities have an important role in ecosystem productivity and stabilized food chain. The value of MHI was significantly correlated to several vegetation indices based on remote sensing analysis. MHI could be estimated from multiple indices such as GCI, SIPI, NBR and ARVI. The model is the potential to be applied in other areas and various temporal settings. The development of MHI could be encouraged as a new approach for assessing mangrove forest during managing mangrove in international scale. 

In addition, a smartphone-based app, namely MonMang, has been released in October 2020 which has a functionality to record, analyze, and interpret data simultaneously on the field site, so that parameter information could be completed real-time (Dharmawan, 2020). On the initial version, MonMang facilitates some basic information such as parameters in mangrove community structure for forest monitoring, a robust canopy coverage value based on hemispherical photography method, a single metric of mangrove health index (MHI) and threat quantification. Recently, MonMang has been significantly upgraded with some features which is not only used for monitoring activities but also enhancing young generation awareness in mangrove existence.