Opportunities for efficiency in the APEC block

It is no longer news when a company announces its business performance with an annual turnover larger than the GDP of many less-developed countries.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), through its member economies, is now a major forum discussing global issues. Member economies account for 57 percent of global GDP and provide 40 percent of world trade volume.

With a population of more than 2.6 billion, APEC also provides a huge potential market. In the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) with six countries alone, the export of live reef fish as food consumption trade is US$1 billion.

APEC’s theme for 2011 is to promote green growth and help member economies make a successful transition to a clean energy future, and aims to advance APEC’s work to address barriers to trade in environmental goods across the Asia-Pacific region.

APEC economies possess vast natural resources, and 70 percent of global fish product consumption is within this APEC group. Global aquaculture of both fish and other marine products is on the rise, but capture fisheries has leveled off.

There is a slide in both the size of fish being caught and the species of fish available down the value chains that indicates a need for better management of capture fisheries.

An emerging issue is the management of the environment and production – how to guarantee that any given area can produce the most of the high value species and of size and quantity of fish that the world market continues to look for. This is a challenge facing APEC member economies to cooperate to improve management in order to sustain value chains from production to consumption.

In the 3rd APEC Oceans Related Ministerial Meeting (AOM3) in Peru last year, the participants endorsed the “Paracas Declaration” building on the Bali Plan of Action from the 2nd AOMM of 2005.

The declaration is a commitment to move from words to action in achieving the sustainable development of our oceans, seas and coastal resources. It also commits the economies to develop effective practical and holistic steps to realize the full economic potential of our fishery resources for both our communities and our economies.

This requires maximizing the ecological production through good management of the marine and coastal environment, the investment in people and infrastructure to guarantee the highest quality production, post-harvest value adding and the technical assistance and appropriate legal framework provided by governments to its people.

Fisher-folk, like corporations, prioritize the short-term, today’s catch and this year’s profits. National governments and international organizations need to look beyond short-termism — electorates trust that governments adopt a long-term view, investing today for tomorrow and the next generations’ benefit. International organizations such as APEC must resist the pressures of the short-termism in favor of long-term sustainability.

As an archipelagic nation of more than 17,000 islands bridging the Indian and Pacific Ocean, with over 90 percent of its population living near the coasts, it is appropriate that Indonesia has taken the lead in the global discussion on the sustainable use of the oceans.

From the 2007 APEC leaders meeting in Sydney and COP-13 in Bali through the 2009 World Ocean Conference and CTI Summit in Manado and also at COP-15 in Copenhagen, Indonesia continues to echo the ocean’s dimensions on the world’s agenda.

The UNEP 2010 world ministers of the environment meeting in Bali was momentous when Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recognized the importance of healthy oceans and well-managed coral reefs and coastal habitats as the basis for food security and economic development, and received the UNEP award for the patronage and leadership in marine and ocean issues. Indonesia has invested in developing approaches to marine conservation that have begun to demonstrate good management practices.

Most recently with the June 2011 APEC 10th joint meeting in Bali, member economies discussed the sustainable use of ocean resources production and the supporting ocean’s environment. The convergence between the issues above discussed to the point where the two working groups become one, the Ocean and Fisheries Working Group. As chair of the fisheries working group and transitional chair’s role of the APEC’s newly combined working group, Indonesia can expand its leadership role, thus progressing the sustainable achievement of fisheries and marine development in the region.

Indonesia leads the world in seascape management and the development of networks of marine protected areas (MPAs). Currently 901,680 hectares of 4.6 million hectares is set aside as MPAs, providing a safe home for more than 1,100 species of fish, 700 species of mollusk and more than 540 species of coral reef.

On a global scale, oceans absorb more than 30 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions released into the atmosphere. They also absorb heat and slow down warming processes. The challenge now is that protecting the ocean comes at the expense of economic development, and vice versa.

Through ASEAN and APEC, in addition to Indonesia’s present involvement within the global dialogue, it is taking a role in moving from rhetoric to action, moreover, informed action.

Bold steps are needed and we trust our leaders to take the necessary steps. It is our families living in coastal areas that will be among the first to tell us if we are doing enough.

The writer, a lead shepherd of the APEC Fisheries Working Group and a doctor of philosophy in environmental and natural resource economics at the University of Rhode Island, is currently a secretary-general of the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry.