Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Berbasis Modal Sosial Dalam Rangka Pelestarian Hutan Mangrove
Abstract
The area of the North Luwu mangrove forest is 16,000 hectares. With a coastline length of 53 Km.
However, 24% of the mangrove ecosystem is in a damaged condition. The damage was spread over
several points. One of the points of concern is the coastline area of Pao Village and Pengkajoan Village.
The damage was caused by the conversion of mangrove forest land for milkfish and shrimp ponds,
changing the function to agricultural land, especially citrus farming, residential areas, and plantation
land. This study aims to analyze community empowerment through the concept of social capital to
conserve mangrove forests. This type of research is a descriptive type of research with a qualitative
approach. Data collection was carried out through interviews, observation, and documentation.
Activities in the analysis consist of data condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing/verification.
The results showed that social capital-based community empowerment in mangrove conservation has
been running, this is because the group can move its members in preserving mangrove forests by only
capitalizing on mutual trust by prioritizing group goals. Besides that, what makes the group empowered
is the collaboration with the local government and universities in Luwu Raya. The increase in group
capacity is also due to training and mentoring from universities, especially regarding the impact of
changing mangrove forest lands.