T

he private sector should take the lead in maintaining the sustainable development of the Coral Triangle area to ensure that the world'€™s epicenter of marine biodiversity remains well conserved while it is concurrently introduced as a major tourist destination, experts suggested during a recent regional business forum.

During the 4th Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security forum (CTI-CFF) held from Aug. 27 to Aug. 29 in Bali, leaders and experts representing business, government and NGOs met to map out policies, strategies and solutions to promote sustainable marine tourism in the Coral Triangle region, which spans the sea regions of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste.

One of the key themes of the forum was how to effectively promote and support the private sector to play a greater role in supporting responsible and sustainable tourism in the region. The region gets its name from the scientific delineation around the waters which contain more than 500 species of reef-building coral.

Bali-based Coral Triangle Center executive director Rili Djohani said marine tourism in the Coral Triangle region had steadily grown in the past couple of years, putting the ecosystem at risk due to the direct and indirect impact of tourist activity.

'€œWe need to ensure that marine tourism in the region remains sustainable. The tourism industry should implement codes and standards to ensure that the fragile ecosystem on which tourist activities depend will remain protected and sustained for generations to come,'€ Rili said on the sidelines of the event.

The executive director of Conservation International Indonesia, Ketut Sarjana Putra, meanwhile, said companies must propose environmentally-friendly business practices in order to be able to operate in the Coral Triangle area.

By working together with local communities, authorities, as well as NGOs, the private sector, according to Ketut, could support conservation efforts while at the same time keep their business profitable.

'€œThe private sector should play a greater role, and take the lead in developing the Coral Triangle as one of the world'€™s sustainable marine tourist destinations,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

It is estimated that more than 85 percent of the reefs in the Coral Triangle are directly threatened by human enterprise, with the greatest local threat coming from overfishing, watershed-based pollution and coastal development. Meanwhile, data from the World Travel and Tourism Council showed that the travel and tourism industry in the Coral Triangle'€™s countries had a tremendous economic impact on the region. Approximately US$3 billion in coastal tourism revenues are derived from the region.

Indonesian Marine Tourism Business Association (Gahawisri) chairman Ismail Ning welcomed the call for business players to contribute more to marine conservation efforts.

'€œThe private sector needs to understand that no tourism will happen without sustainability. When the government lack resources, the private sector should step up and protect the area,'€ he said.