US pledges $40M for 'Amazon of the Seas'

Veronica Uy, The Philippines Inquirer 23 Oct 08;

MANILA, Philippines—The United States government on Thursday pledged $40 million to help save the marine and coastal ecosystems in East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and the Solomon Islands that comprise the Coral Triangle, which is also known as the Amazon of the Seas for its biodiversity.

A statement from the US embassy here said US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney made the pledge to support international effort at stopping the degradation of the area believed to be the world's greatest expanse of mangrove, coral reef, and fish
biodiversity.

"The Coral Triangle is under threat from pollution, unsustainable fishing practices, and climate change," it said.

The embassy said the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Department of State will provide the fund over five years to the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), a consortium formed to promote sustainable fisheries and coastal resource management programs in the six countries that comprise the Coral Triangle.

The CTI seeks to protect the Coral Triangle, an area of six million square kilometers of ocean and coasts where the Indian and Pacific oceans meet and is home to 30 percent of the world's coral reefs and represents 75 percent of the known coral species.

"The Coral Triangle Initiative builds on three decades of assistance that the US government has provided for coastal resources management in the Asia-Pacific," Kenney said.

Part of the USAID fund goes to a consortium of NGOs, including the World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, and Conservation International to protect the Coral Triangle by working with government and private-sector partners. It also supports scientific research in the Coral Triangle.

"The degradation of the Coral Triangle is so great that we must hurry to preserve the best of it," said Dr. J.E.N. "Charlie" Veron, the marine scientist who maintains that the Coral Triangle is the global epicenter for marine life.

"The CTI will encourage responsible fishing practices while raising the profile of the CT6 and their marine ecosystems [and] that will attract tourist dollars, generate local income, and encourage changes in laws to support conservation," he said.

According to the US embassy, the Coral Triangle's marine and coastal resources -- and the goods and services they provide -- are threatened by over-fishing, blast and cyanide fishing, sedimentation and other forms of pollution from coastal development, poor agricultural practices and deforestation, and ocean acidification due to global
warming.

These factors are adversely affecting the region's fish, coral, and mangroves, as well as the 120 million people dependent on them for their livelihood.

In the Philippines, the fishing industry employs more than a million people, or five percent of the national labor force. The country is the world's 11th largest fish producer.

"However, its resources are declining and its biodiversity is under threat due to human activities," the embassy said.

To enhance regional security and prosperity, the CTI will address the challenges of food security, sustainable livelihoods, responsible trade, good governance, biodiversity preservation, and climate change. "These are issues that cross geographical and political boundaries," it said.

"The CTI will be a great benefit the people of the Philippines and, in particular, to the children of the Philippines and their children's children," said Kenney.

Other partners to the project are the Asian Development Bank, the Global Environment Facility, the United Nations Development Program, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, the Australian government, the Walton Family Foundation, and the NGO consortium, all under the leadership of the CT6 governments.

"A cross-border effort like the CTI is vital to restore the Coral Triangle's ecosystems," said Olivier Carduner, director of USAID's Regional Development Mission for Asia, noting that tuna might breed in one country's waters, mature in another's, and then migrate and be caught anywhere in the Pacific region.

"By coordinating our efforts, leveraging our funds, uniting our political will, and reaching out to key stakeholders, we can save these extraordinary marine ecosystems," he said.

US govt pledges 40 million dollars to preserve Asia reefs
AFP 23 Oct 08;

MANILA (AFP) — The United States has pledged nearly 40 million dollars to save the world's greatest expanse of coral reef, mangrove and fish ecosystems, the US embassy in Manila said Thursday.

Ambassador Kristie Kenney announced the fresh aid during a regional conference on the so-called "Coral Triangle".

The six million square-kilometre (2.3 million square-mile) expanse of water and coastline where the Pacific and Indian Oceans meet contains the greatest concentration of marine organisms anywhere in the world, scientists say.

The area, which is home to 30 percent of the world's coral reefs and three-quarters of known coral species, is under threat from pollution, unsustainable fishing practices and climate change, Kenney told the conference.

The assistance -- worth 39.45 million dollars -- will go to the Coral Triangle Initiative, a consortium formed to promote sustainable fisheries and coastal resource management programmes in East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and the Solomon Islands.

"The Coral Triangle Initiative builds on three decades of assistance that the US government has provided for coastal resources management in the Asia-Pacific," Kenney said.

The conference was also told that an agreement binding all six nations to protect the coral triangle will be signed by national leaders in Indonesia next year.

"While coral reefs and mangroves may be static, migratory species, pollution, climate change and illegal fishing do not respect national boundaries," Philippine Environment Secretary Lito Atienza told the conference.

Atienza said the agreement was a "grand experiment" to show that neighbours could work together to conserve their common natural resources.