As one of the main partners in mobilizing resources to support the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has worked with the six countries in which the coral triangle is bounded - Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Timor Leste and Indonesia - to assist them in ensuring the sustainability of the reefs in the region. ADB principal climate change specialist David S. McCauley, previously a principal environment specialist with the ADB, spoke to The Jakarta Post's Primastuti Handayani on the challenges facing the six countries. Below is the excerpt of the interview.
Question: What's the ADB's role in helping marine countries, especially those in the Coral Triangle?
Answer: The ADB helps the economies of these countries, which are dependent on healthy coastal and marine resources. The fisheries industry, which directly employs about 6 million people, and three or four times that indirectly, is worth about US$3 billion a year for the six countries.
There is concern about the sustainability of these resources and the values they produce, due to pressures on natural resources from unsustainable fishing practices. And now there's also growing concern about climate change and its impacts.
So it's natural for the ADB to be working with the countries to help maintain these resources as the basis for their livelihoods and economic development.
What are the main challenges for countries located in the Coral Triangle?
There is the fishery sector and how to deal with some of the key elements of the sector. One is local fisheries and the livelihoods provided to coastal communities. It also relates to fish exports, the live reef fish trade, which is quite big. The single biggest market is Hong Kong and some ports in China.
Another is aquarium fish, and again that can be done in a sustainable way but it has to be carefully managed.
Third is tuna fishing. That's unique to the coral triangle because waters in countries like Indonesia and the Philippines provide the nursing grounds for four major tuna species. Most of the fish leave after they get bigger, and get caught in the Pacific or Indian oceans. If those fish are caught while they are still small, and there is no proper effort made in the areas, the catch in Pacific and Indian oceans will go down.
Most people attribute that to the overfishing of smaller tuna within the waters of the nursery grounds in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Another factor is tourism, the fastest-growing industry in the world. Since more of them are nature-based and located on the coast, they tend to be coastal-based *tourism*. If your resources can provide beautiful beaches, and other attractions like diving are damaged, then the attractiveness of coastal tourism is also damaged.
Is the ADB cooperating with the six countries to take real action?
The ADB is more like an external financier for the CTI. The ADB has been working in these countries for a number of years, like with the Coremap project in Indonesia and the integrated coastal re-sources management project in the Philippines.
There are also commitments of pledges by various partners in coral resources. There are also commitment from the ADB, the US and from a number of other partners, including NGOs like the TNC *The Nature Conservancy*, CI *Conservation International* and the WWF *World Wildlife Fund*.
What does the ADB expect from the CTI summit besides a regional action plan?
This level of political commitment is a very important statement. It raises public awareness. It shows the leaders recognize this is a problem, but it's not just an environment problem - it's an international and development problem. So many jobs are dependent upon these resources, and the future world economies can be handled in an environmentally sustainable way. This is maybe the last chance to get it right.
Finally, there's a new threat from climate change. There should be an emphasis on better understanding of the coastal and marine *ecosystem*, the impact of climate change and what sort of impacts the people will suffer from a damaged ecosystem.
If the leaders make a strong commitment, that gives the assurance to development partners from the international community and they are willing to invest and support that. The private sector has played an important role in the tourism and fisheries industries, which need to establish clear standards alongside other coastal-based industries.
One of the topics at the CTI is food security. How close and how real is the threat?
Statistics on fish stocks within the coral triangle are not very positive, especially in Southeast Asia. The total volume and the average size are decreasing, and this is particularly troubling because the reef fish are the basis for marine ecosystems.
Tuna, which has economic value in fisheries, is also in decline. It is a threat to food security in the region and other coastal communities whose lives are based on fishing.
The decline in fish threatens food security. Coral triangle leaders were wise to include it within the overall title and emphasize the CTI on food security. With the economic downturn, urban people are going back to coastal villages and it puts even greater pressure on the resources.
If all the measures are taken and the commitments fulfilled, can we survive the threat?
The biggest long-term threat is the impact of climate change. The sea level will rise, ocean temperatures will rise. Certain marine organisms may not be able to survive and no one really knows the impact on the marine ecosystem.
There's a lot more scientific analysis needed, and personally I feel that's the biggest long-term threat. We need all the countries to come together.
