T

he Indonesian Science Institution (LIPI) has released a foresight document on maritime research to support its ambitious target of becoming a global maritime fulcrum in 2045.

The document, launched on Monday, detailed challenges the country was facing in the maritime sector, the condition of current maritime research and stratagems that could be taken to improve the current condition in the future, particularly during the 2020-2035 period, which was essential to laying the groundwork for long-term solutions.

A foresight process, also known globally as study of the future, is a system that allows people to think ahead and respond to future eventualities.

Such an approach was not popular in the country although it had been used in many countries, such as the United Kingdom, China, the Netherlands and Australia, for development planning in the maritime sector through which they identified problems and proposed long-term strategies to address them.

Lutfah Ariana, a research and development specialist at LIPI who contributed to the study, said the foresight document highlighted issues that ranged from “problems to hopes” that could be answered through scientific activities amid extensive debates over getting the balance right between exploitation and protecting the ocean environment.

“Simply saying, a research system must be able to meet the needs of the country,” Lutfah said at the document’s launch in Jakarta.

LIPI’s foresight document underlined six major challenges that could be addressed through a comprehensive marine research: food security, energy, sea pollution, threats to marine biodiversity, sustainable coastal management and the eventual problems stemming from climate change.

In the food security sector, for instance, the document detailed research topics that could be explored to effectively harness rich food sources, such as the impact of climate change on food security, tech-savvy fish capture techniques and environment-friendly sea resources cultivation.

In drafting the 102-page paper, Lutfah said, LIPI had used a number of existing maritime documents, including the 2045 Global Maritime Axis document that aims for a better contribution from the country’s sea to the gross domestic product (GDP).

The foresight document also described the stark disparity between maritime-related studies published by the country’s scientists that are currently available and those that are needed but have yet to be produced.

For example, there is not a single study by Indonesian scientists on the correlation between sea currents and the movement of debris in the ocean, although the country has been struggling to reduce marine waste.

Even LIPI’s Oceanography Study Center (P2O LIPI) still had a lot of work to do in researching unexplored themes, the foresight document said.

P2O LIPI chairman Dirhamsyah said his institution had found it hard to explore various themes because of a dearth of researchers.

P2O LIPI had more than 100 researchers at present, he said, and the annual retirement of experienced researchers could widen the gap.

Dirhamsyah claimed that P2O LIPI was now in the middle of a transition period to meet the growing demand from various parties for applicable research, including the House of Representatives, which he said had requested that research products be given to their constituents.

“The nature of our work is in basic research. It’s extremely difficult for us to change into inventors,” he added.