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RP warns against political motives in selecting CTI office
Adianto P. Simamora , The Jakarta Post , Manado | Thu, 05/14/2009 2:17 PM | World Ocean Conference
The Philippine delegation to the upcoming Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Summit has warned against political motives in choosing a country as the host for the permanent office of the Coral Triangle Secretariat.
Philippine Agriculture Minister Arthur C. Yap said the implementation of the much-lauded CTI program and its plan of action would depend mostly on the "quality" of the permanent secretariat.
"The choice of the CTI Secretariat has to be internationally and regionally agreed. We must remove any political debate in deciding the host of the permanent office," he said on the sidelines of the Global Ocean Policy Day on Wednesday.
"The *elected* country should be able to listen to opinions and voices from six member countries. No country can monopolize the agenda of the CTI."
Both the Philippines and Indonesia have submitted proposals to host the secretariat.
The final decision will be made at a summit Friday for leaders of the six coral triangle countries - Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Timor Leste and Indonesia.
"We've already offered to host a permanent office and we're very ready to support the CTI program," Yap said.
Senior officials from the six countries are debating crucial issues, including the location for the CTI Secretariat and financial matters, to be officially adopted by the summit.
The leaders will adopt a non-binding document of the CTI regional of plan of action as a guideline to conserve coastal and marine resources within the region. Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi was upbeat that all points in the draft declaration, including that on the secretariat, would be agreed upon before the summit.
The CTI budget will come from the six member states and donor countries, including the US and Australia, and international agencies such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and USAID.
The CTI has already received pledges worth US$300 million, including $40 million from the US.
The ADB and GEF plan to raise a total of $25.5 million in funding for Southeast Asia and the Pacific to protect coral reefs, with Southeast Asia to receive $12.3 million.
The coral triangle is home to 76 percent of the world's coral species and 37 percent of its reef fish species, and straddles 75,000 square kilometer of the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Yap lauded the CTI for also discussing food security to eradicate poverty.
"The CTI is a very good step toward protecting marine biodiversity because coral reefs are the center of total marine biodiversity," he said.
"It emphasizes people, poverty eradication and also climate change."
He warned that lack of action to protect coral reefs would place the world and humanity in danger.
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Glenn Ismael Ymata (not verified) — Thu, 05/14/2009 - 3:29pm
Precautionary Principle
Many are about to be fooled by the much anticipated Coral Triangle Initiative. Home to the world's largest and richest marine biodiversity, the Coral Triangle is now put in the spotlight under the disguised of sustainable ocean management with an approached dubbed as "precautionary principle" and trying to link it to the world's burning issue of climate change.
But what is really underneath the Coral Triangle Initiative?
Latest information show that millions of dollars are at stake to make CTI happen. It was cited many times in the Manado Ocean Declaration, that what is needed is huge financial resources to sustain ocean management. The CTI plan of action reveals that it is indeed needed. Now, Indonesian and Philippine governments are vying to get the secretariatship of the CTI Program. That is because, whoever act as the secretariat to the CTI would mean more access and control to millions of dollars for the program. The CTI has already received pledges worth US$300 million, including $40 million from the US. The ADB and GEF also made their commitments and plan to raise a total of $25.5 million in funding for Southeast Asia and the Pacific to protect coral reefs, with Southeast Asia to receive $12.3 million.
But what should be the real issue here? Instead of debating over who will manage the purse, isn't it more important to discuss how this CTI could contribute to poverty eradication and capacity building of coastal communities to effectively manage coastal resources?
Artisanal fishers and the rest of Southeast Asian people, be bothered by this actions of the technocrats. Be cautioned by their motives of siphoning funds for their own interests while we, the majority, will suffer the burden of paying the loans that will finance the CTI Program.
Now that is the real precautionary principle!