National News - October 28, 2000

NUSA DUA, Bali (JP): A call for immediate action in management and policyto prevent coral destruction was made at the closing of the Ninth International Symposium on Coral Reefs on Friday, demanding that governments and international agencies make a strong commitment to saving the world's environmental heritage.

"In Indonesia, explosives and cyanide as well as massive sea pollution are indisputably the biggest threat to coral reefs," Suharsono, an expert on coral reefs from the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) and one of the symposium organizers told The Jakarta Post, after the closing of a one-week conference at Sheraton Nusa Dua.

"All of this time we've only developed a local community approach to saving coral reefs but actually the ones that have to be approached are nomad fishermen such as those from Buton, Bugis and Makassar," Suharsono explained.

"When I went diving, dynamite blasts could be heard a few times in just one minute underwater. It's terrible," he said.

That is why, besides the management factor, the regulations and enforcement must be conducted seriously.

"Police can never get solid evidence in the case of environmental damage due to the fact that it is usually a collective action," he added.

The existing data shows that Indonesia is home to some 85,000 square kilometers of coral reef, 40 percent of which are badly damaged and only some 6.5 percent are in excellent condition.

In a bid to obtain accurate data of the country's sea heritage, LIPI in cooperation with the Center for Sea and Geology and the National Aviation and Aviation Institute (LAPAN) are currently conducting coral reef mapping as well as measuring the line of the country's sea zone and the exact number of islands.

"We are using more accurate technology and satellite data. So far we havecompleted the mapping of five islands, namely Sumatra, Java, East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara and Sulawesi," Suharsono explained.

The remaining three are Kalimantan, Maluku and Irian Jaya, which are expected to be completed in March next year. "By May 2001 we hope to present holistic data as national data," he said.

The other important factor regarding the destruction of the coral is coral bleaching which results from global climate change due to the impact of greenhouses emissions.

Therefore, the meeting urged governments and international agencies to have the strong political will to enforce the concrete actions suggested bythe United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and to release funding to mitigate the impacts and advance the understanding of bleaching. Immediate critical management responses raised at the symposium include the halting of activities that may damage the remaining live coral, revising the location and boundaries of marine reserves and parks to ensureremaining coral reefs are strictly protected and facilitating the regeneration of affected reefs by reducing over-fishing, pollution and other impacts of land-based activities.

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