Raja Ampat Straps Up to Take Care of Business

The Nature Conservancy Team geared up and in the water Indonesia Raja Ampat

Actions are rolling in at Raja Ampat Bird Head Indonesia. Money moves are taking care of business.

On February 24 The Nature Conservancy announced during the World Ocean Summit that new funds were released to put Raja Ampat on fast track to Marine Conservation. Sided with the WWF and the Government of Indonesia the program is directed into the Blue Abadi Fund.

The Blue Abadi Fund will chip in 23 million USD for what they explain is the World's Largest Marine Conservation Trust. The amount may seem small compared to other investment in Ocean conservation and Ocean actions but it is not about the big the accounts but about accountability and sustainability.

In alliance WWF, TNC, Indonesia and the Blue Abadi Fun will support Long-Term Community Stewardship. For those who are not familiar with Raja Ampat prepare to have your mind blown, away…

Known as the best diving spot in the World, a biodiversity heaven and incredibly rich in natural resources the region under protection in Indonesia is home for over 2.5 thousand islands, reefs and thousands of species -some of which are found nowhere else on Earth. Below the waters vast untouchable treasures exists.

The Blue Abadi Fund is uniquely designed to support local community stewardship of the protected areas of the world’s most biodiverse reefs, Indonesia’s Bird’s Head Seascape. The new money announcement came in just 5 months after the Fund initiative was announced.

“Once the Fund is fully capitalized, the Seascape will contain Indonesia’s first sustainably financed marine protected area network Marine Protected Area MPA,” TNC explained.

But it is not all good news for the Bird's Head Peninsula -shared by New Guinea and Indonesia. Researcher Gate ran a paper titled “Emerging threats and challenges in the Global Center of Marine Biodiversity”. Illegal activities, poor coastal development, illegal fisheries unsustainable development and climate change are impacting Raja Ampat.

“Since 2001, the region has undergone rapid development in fisheries, oil and gas extraction, mining and logging. The expansion of these sectors, combined with illegal activities and poorly planned coastal development, is accelerating deterioration of coastal and marine environments,” the paper published at Reasearcher Gate hints into the situation.

With over 3.6 million hectares of Marine Protected Areas to cover government, international organizations and local communities try to cope.

On February 23 USAID -United States Agency for International Development and Walton Family Foundation jumped into the new actions signing a memorandum of understanding at the Economist World Ocean Summit. They assure it will improve Indonesia’s marine biodiversity conservation and fisheries management.

“Rebuilding the World’s fisheries and conserving ocean biodiversity are among the most pressing conservation challenges of our time,” Barry Gold Environment Program Director at the Walton Family Foundation said. “We are especially pleased to be working with USAID in Indonesia, as it brings enormous technical expertise and can focus on priority areas over the long term.”

The memorandum is designed to include all sector from private companies, fishing communities, and related government agencies. The bullet points include vigilance of deep-water fisheries, improvement of management of ocean resources, promotion of effective governance, and encouragement of the private-sector collaboration to improve sustainable fisheries and marine conservation around the country.

USAID linked a recent World Bank analysis which estimates that global overfishing results in more than 80 billion USD in lost revenue for fishermen and the fishing industry.

USAID and Walton Family Foundation are planning to contribute 15 million USD in funds as well as added value through expertise to collaborate on various initiatives, including the Blue Abadi Fund, set for launch on Oceans Summit in Bali.

World Bank working to make Global Fisheries productive and sustainable lamented Worldwide fisheries losses and has been working for years to turn around the situation. “There are different paths for Fisheries to reform which are showing promising results,” the World Bank assures.

“New economic analysis reveals that, because of overfishing, global fisheries forego more than 80 billion a year, compared to an optimal scenario. Allowing fish stocks to bounce back to healthier levels would cut losses and create revenue for long-term growth, while helping fisheries adapt to climate change and meet global demand for seafood,” the International Financial organization revealed.

Their new report published in February details programs operating in Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East, Africa and other regions of the World striving for Fisheries resilience. The World Bank is hopeful and revealed that Return on Investment is already breaking back.

“Experience in several countries shows there are multiple ways to arrive at a more sustainable and profitable level of fishing,” World Bank said.

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“The new World Bank report, The Sunken Billions Revisited: Progress and Challenges in Global Marine Fisheries, confirms what many intuitively know: overexploitation is not a good strategy to manage a renewable natural resource like fish stocks, for steady profits, reliable jobs and long-term growth,” World Bank Press Office communicated.

The Food and Agriculture Office FAO is also deeply immersed in the studies and in Global Fisheries. From a Global Fisheries Perspective Raja Ampat has its leverage.

“Fisheries in the Western and Central Pacific provide over half of the world’s tuna, a prized source of protein, worth some $5.8 billion per year at first sale to processors (according to data from 2014). Tuna has the potential to fuel growth for many decades to come if it is managed sustainably,” World Bank explains.

Pacific island countries have taken a successful regional approach to managing their shared tuna resources. Because tuna are migratory species, the fate of the stock depends on actions taken by a number of countries and foreign vessels, throughout their biological range.

World Bank presses for programs which use Total Allowable Catch strategies. Foreign fleets can take part of the programs as well. It works like a cap and trade scheme.

But Raja Ampat has another Ace under its sleeve and it is as attractive and rentable as Fisheries. With Fisheries and Marine Protected Areas MPAs geared up under control the Tourism sector can only grow.

“This area of the West Papua province is legendary amongst experienced scuba divers and has long been a well-kept secret of the scuba diving community. Not a single day went by where I was not blown away by the natural beauty and varied sceneries across and in between the islands of Raja Ampat. I found myself becoming exceptionally greedy in seeing all the things. The fish, the islands, a whale, the manta rays. It’s almost too much to describe. A mere week was not long enough for me to truly get my fill of natural beauty from the islands of Raja Ampat and the beautiful people of West Papua,” one of the millions of travellers journeying into Raja Ampat wrote on March 5 in Story of My World.

“The people are among the friendliest and most welcoming that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. The islands here are home to some of the most friendly and wonderful people. I was constantly surrounded by happy people, beautiful jungle, soft sand and more fish than this mermaid can count,” the traveller amazed at local culture.

“Like all good things in life, there’s a little bit of hard work if you want to visit West-Papua but with a big reward at the end. There is no direct way to get to Raja Ampat. This is certainly a place that is all about the destination and very little about the journey,” the traveller blasted online.

Making Raja Ampat more accessible and learning the ropes on MPAs is what Conservation International SEO Peter Seligmann is all about.

"The Bird's Head Seascape is a groundbreak partnership protecting a unique and irreplaceable corner of our blue planet," Mr Seligmann .chairman and CEO of Conservation International explained.

"The Government of Indonesia and the local community have taken the lion's share of responsibility for these efforts. I am thrilled that Conservation International and our partners can support the long-term financial stability of this partnership through the Blue Abadi Fund."

Conservation International and over 30 engaged organizations and partners will continued to make things happen. That is the money, right there.

Along with The Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund - and 70 donors, both local and global. The governments of Indonesia and the West Papua Province, along with local communities, are playing the fundamentals to manage the Ocean protected areas and its rich resources.

Will Raja Ampat become the stage for a new Blue Movement? Will it succeed and step up to the challenges? Time will tell.

“There’s a lot to see and do in Raja Ampat, but at the same time, I don’t think that you could pick a better place to get away from it all. With no wifi, limited mobile phone coverage, the jungle’s dawn bird chorus and nothing but the calm passing of another day, you can happily find yourself lost in a tropical island paradise,” the Traveller writing for Story of My World said…