Monitoring Activity in

After a while, we finally have the initial findings from the research collaboration between TJF and
Blue Forests Foundation. On 27-28 October 2020, we disseminated the results through participation
in the 6 th International Conference on Tropical and Coastal Region Eco Development (ICTCRED) 2020 in the University of Diponegoro, Semarang. This conference is held virtually and is aimed to promote scientific findings within the scope of aquacultures, marine science, coastal management, fisheries, and the likes.

In TJF and Blue Forests collaboration, we did field research, interviewed the farmers, and analyzed
the data within our study area, that is in Bedono Village in Demak Regency. The village is located in Demak’s coastal area where the mangrove ecosystem thrives and people’s main livelihood is aquaculture practice. However, in the past years, the mangroves and aquaculture ponds have become degraded. To address the challenge, an approach named coastal field school or CFS is implemented under the Building with Nature (BwN) project.

Our objective is to understand how CFS can affect the fish farmers to improve their capacity to have
sustainable aquaculture practice. In ICTCRED, we show the findings that the CFS participants’
knowledge of sustainable aquaculture management has significantly improved hence they are able
to gain a shellfish productivity rate by nearly 30%. Not only improving productivity leads to the
increasing income of the households, fish farmers who participate in CFS were also more aware of
the practices that give a minimum negative impact on the environment. Further, TJF and Blue
Forests are planning to continue the partnership through the advocacy of sustainable wetland
management.