The Coral Triangle To Get A $12 Million Dollar Boost

The Coral Triangle, one of the world’s most diverse and threatened marine ecosystems, is getting a US$12 million boost from the Asian Development Bank.

AsianScientist (May 20, 2011) – The Coral Triangle, one of the world’s most diverse and threatened marine ecosystems, is getting a US$12 million boost from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to improve management of its rich resources and to provide job alternatives for people living in the coastal communities.

Known as the ‘Amazon of the Seas,’ the Coral Triangle encompasses ocean areas in six countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. It covers 5.7 million square kilometers of ocean waters in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea (PNG), the Philippines, Solomon Island, and Timor Leste.

Its resources are critical for the economic and food security of an estimated 120 million people. These resources are at immediate risk from a range of factors, including the impacts of climate change and unsustainable fishing methods. Assessments of the Coral Triangle show that up to 88 percent of reefs are under threat from harmful human activities, resulting in major losses for the fishing and tourism industries.

In 2009, the six nations endorsed the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) agreement, which lays out a plan of action to ensure sustainability of resources, with ADB playing a key role in its promotion and management of financial resources.

Based on that agreement, ADB has approved assistance of around US$12 million for the Coastal and Marine Resources Management Project. It includes a US$1 million grant from ADB’s concessional Technical Assistance Special Fund, and US$11.2 million in cofinancing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines will provide US$3 million in non-cash contributions.

“The project aims to strengthen national and local institutions for sustainable coastal and marine ecosystem management and to establish support mechanisms for sustainable livelihoods in coastal communities,” said Kunio Senga, Director General of ADB’s South East Asia Department.

The Project complements ongoing projects worth US$15.05 million, cofinanced by ADB and GEF, to assist PNG, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste in fulfilling their 2009 CTI objectives, as well as engage Fiji and Vanuatu in these efforts.

The implementing agencies for the project, which is due for completion in June 2015, are the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of Indonesia; National Oceanography Directorate-Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Malaysia; and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines

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Source: Asian Development Bank.
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