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16,000 Indonesian islands registered at UN
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Aerial view of Thousand Islands, north of Jakarta coast. (Shutterstock/File)
T
he United Nations Group of Expert on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) verified 2,590 islands registered by Indonesia during the 11th United Nations Conference on Standardization of Geographical Names (UNCSGN) in New York from Aug. 7-18, an official has stated.
With the additions, the names and locations of 16,056 islands in the archipelago are registered with the UN.
Indonesia has listed 17,504 islands under its sovereignty, said Arif Havas Oegroseno, the assistant for maritime sovereignty at the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister.
"There are 1,448 islands left that need to be validated and verified," he said in a statement on Saturday.
Read also: Indonesia calls for Archipelagic & Island States Forum
He said the verification of islands in Indonesia needed to be conducted regularly because climate change and natural anomalies, such as abrasions, had led to the emergence and disappearance of islands.
Registering islands with the UN was also important to prevent duplicate names, Arif added.
Led by Geospatial Information Agency (BIG) head Zaenal Abidin, the Indonesian delegation at the 11th UNCSGN consisted of officials from the BIG, the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister, the Office of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister, the Home Ministry, the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry and the University of Indonesia. (yon/bbs)
