Australia helps conserve Coral Triangle

Adam Gartrell, The Age 15 May 09;

Australia will help fund conservation programs in the Coral Triangle region amid warnings its critical marine ecosystems face catastrophe if climate change goes unchecked.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett has announced $2 million in funding for the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), which aims to protect an area many scientists regard as the Amazon of the seas.

The Coral Triangle - taking in East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands - contains 30 per cent of the world's coral reefs and sustains the lives of more than 100 million people.

If its ecosystems are allowed to fail, food security for tens of millions of people will disappear.

Mr Garrett said the $2 million was the first phase of an ongoing plan to support the CTI, which is meeting on the sidelines of the World Ocean Conference in the Indonesian city of Manado.

"This investment will focus on areas where we can make the greatest contribution by sharing our knowledge and directly supporting capacity building in marine biodiversity conservation, sustainable fisheries, protecting vulnerable marine species and community empowerment," he said on Friday.

An Australian-led study, released this week, paints a nightmarish picture of the region's future if climate change goes unaddressed.

Unless the world achieves significant greenhouse gas reductions, the region's reefs will be destroyed, poverty will increase, food security will plummet and coastal people will be forced to migrate inland or to other countries.

Mr Garrett on Thursday joined leaders, ministers and officials from more than 70 countries to sign the Manado Oceans Declaration.

The pact is designed to protect oceans and coastal areas from the impact of climate change, and influence critical climate change talks in Copenhagen later this year.

It calls for cuts to ocean pollution, funding for sustainable development in poor countries, greater research into how climate change affects the ocean and the role oceans play in fighting climate change.

But the non-binding declaration contained no specific commitments for funding or emissions targets and was criticised by some scientists as too weak to combat likely devastating sea rises and the destruction of key species.

However, Mr Garrett called it a significant step forward.

"This declaration signifies a global consensus," he said.

"Ocean health is a priority and we have to take collective action and not ignore the effects of climate change on oceans and coasts."

Australia commits $2m to 'Amazon of the Seas'
ABC News 15 May 09;

Australia has promised $2 million in aid to a new regional partnership charged with protecting marine life in the waters of the coral triangle.

The coral triangle is an area of ocean to Australia's north that is regarded as one of the richest marine environments in the world.

Seven countries have signed an agreement to work together to protect the area from the effects of overfishing, pollution and climate change.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett says the Australian aid money will mainly support programs in coastal communities in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

"This region is the Amazon of the Seas and we recognise how important it is that concerted regional action is taken to secure the health of the ocean environments," he said.

"It's about food security. It's about the livelihood of hundreds of millions of people in this region. It's also about recognising how critical the health of the ocean environment is.

"We want to see some support go in the first instance to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

"We want to provide the opportunity for additional information learnings, for communities that will be doing this work, and we want to see strategies in place which will really start to deliver the on-ground actions which are necessary to protect the coral triangle itself."

Conservationists have backed the plan, with WWF director general Jim Leape saying the regional agreement is a landmark event.

"What comes out of this commitment is a plan of action which allows, mandates, the ministers, ministries in each of these countries to work together to begin to conserve the tuna stocks that are so important here," he said.

"Also to begin to save the endangered sea turtles that live here, to begin to better manage the coastal ecosystems on which so many of their people depend."