Islands Business - WE SAY: Commitment to protect marine resources

‘...the countries have demonstrated to the world the virtues of working together for the sustainability of the entire planet. Such an initiative must be supported at all costs and must serve as a shining example in all existing and future initiatives of cooperation in the otherwise all too fractious policy practices of the collective Pacific islands’

The Coral Triangle Initiative on coral reefs, fisheries and food security, signed during the World Ocean Conference in Manado, Sulawesi in Indonesia, last month, is perhaps the most significant programme in recent times in relation to the home environments and ecosystems of millions of people who traditionally live in marine and littoral zones including all coastal, island and atoll populations.
The area known as the Coral Triangle comprises a 75,000-square-kilometre area straddling Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Timor Leste and Indonesia.
It makes up just a puny one percent of the earth’s surface but contains as much as 76 percent of the world’s coral reef species and 37 percent of its reef fish species. The area supports the lives and livelihoods of over 100 million people living in these countries and beyond.
Leaders of the six Coral Triangle countries concluded the summit with state members and donors pledging some US$120 million in funding for coral conservation activities in the Coral Triangle area.
This is a welcome development and is a praiseworthy initiative especially since this has been fostered in a spirit of safeguarding the common interests of people across political borders and even more so because it is non-binding and not even a treaty but purely a commitment between each of the participating countries.
The leaders of these countries have shown exemplary cooperation and commitment by not just coming together for a common cause but also helping in raising a considerable amount of funds at the very outset.
The pact has been lauded in all circles across the world as a landmark in co-operation between the leaders of nations cutting across political boundaries, purely in the interests of their peoples.
The leaders also signed a declaration pledging to cooperate in safeguarding the world’s richest marine resources and to ensure the income, livelihoods and food security of millions dependent on area described by the triangle. This includes a commitment to crack down on illegal fishing and pollution, and enforcing new tuna fishing regulations to protect spawning grounds.
This spirit of cooperation has also encouraged donor agencies to commit greater funds: the Asian Development Bank has said that more than $350 million had been pledged towards the project. The Manila headquartered financial institution will also help countries access funds through the offices of the Global Environment Facility, an international body that provides grants for such projects.
The draft summary of the Manado agreement states that the six countries could collectively move to develop and bring in new sustainable fishing laws over the next three years. It also touches upon such matters as curtailing commercial tuna fishing in spawning sites.
One of the aims of the initiative is to protect these waters from illegal fishing operations—something the region and many swathes of ocean beyond has been ravaged by in recent decades with a serious impact on fish stocks.
WWF has warned that yellowfin tuna and bigeye tuna fisheries could collapse in the Western and Central Pacific region if dramatic changes are not made to the way they are harvested. Bigeye tuna are already listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The tuna industry is worth between US$4 and US$6 billion, according to 2007 figures, which only indicates a huge vested interest for both businesses and their host nations.
The big question here is how will the six countries of the new initiative, that have no wherewithal given their economic conditions and the development stages they are in, contend with such infrastructure and hardware intensive tasks, even if they have rules, even legislations in place?
While policing infrastructure will be a problem in the short to medium term, the pact will strengthen the hands of other conservation organisations as well as organisations like the Tuna Commission in the pursuance of their common goals.
Rather than punitive measures at deterrence such as physical policing of the area, which is expensive, cumbersome and prone to landing all parties in international legal quagmires, it may be far better to come up with financial measures, which the countries in the initiative must explore forthwith.
If financial mechanisms to compensate for protecting spawning areas could be put in place where the activities of the parties interested in sustainably fishing the areas are charged, this would benefit both the countries of the coral initiative and their people.
As well as questions relating to conservation, there are newer challenges wrought by climate change that the countries and their people will have to increasingly contend with.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare said at the summit that there was an urgent need to address and manage the challenges brought by climate change and its impacts on the Coral Triangle, underlining all funding for Coral Triangle activities should be coordinated through a national arrangement.
The countries of the Coral Triangle face continuously increasing pressure from climate change and reefs the WWF has warned repeatedly that these could disappear by the end of this century unless countries slash carbon emissions from their current levels.
Towards this end, the Coral Triangle countries have themselves decided to lead by example. Papua New Guinea’s Deputy Prime Minister Puka Temu said at the summit that the PNG Government was developing a forward-looking policy framework aimed at preparing the country to change to relying on renewable resources, not non-renewable resources, for a strong and sustainable economy.
As big an achievement as coming together by sinking any of the differences between them and working towards the common goal of sustainability and food security of their people, the countries have demonstrated to the world the virtues of working together for the sustainability of the entire planet.
Such an initiative must be supported at all costs and must serve as a shining example in all existing and future initiatives of cooperation in the otherwise all too fractious policy practices of the collective Pacific Islands that has been the norm in recent decades.
Lauding the Coral Initiative, Peter Seligmann, head of Conservation International, said: “In 30 years of conservation work, I have never seen anything like this: six leaders signing a commitment to protect their marine resources.”
We hope such a spirit will pervade all Pacific endeavours in the future.