Fidelis E. Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 15 May 09;
With the ink hardly dry on the Coral Triangle Initiative signed on Friday in Manado, the plan to protect the six-nation Asia-Pacific region’s threatened marine and coastal habitat has already gathered as much as $300 million in initial funding pledges, officials said, much of it in co-financing mobilized by the Asian Development Bank.
“Indonesia, through the president, has given $5 million to the program, Papua New Guinea $2 million, Malaysia $1 million and the Philippines $5 million,” said Freddy Numberi, Indonesia’s minister of maritime affairs and fisheries, adding that Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had given her personal pledge for her country’s funds.
In his opening speech at the CTI summit, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Michael Somare said his country was also committed to allocating $2 million.
The bulk of the funds comes from outside the region, however, with the United States pledging $41.6 million and the Global Environmental Facility, an independent financial organization that provides grants to developing countries for environmental remediation, pledging $63 million more.
Australia added another $2 million. Peter Garret, the Australian environment minister, told reporters that the Australian portion was only the first phase of a continuing commitment to support the triangle initiative and help to fund a permanent secretariat.
“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,” Garret said in a prepared statement.
A GEF official said 76 percent of the organization’s funds, or $45.4 million, had already been allocated to implement nine projects in the six countries that make up the organization.
“Each country [in the GEF] has overall allocation funding through different focal points, such as climate change, waters, biodiversity, they all have access to the funding and it’s their choice how much they want to allocate to the Coral Triangle Initiative; the decision is theirs,” he said.
“But overall, they decided to allocate all together $63 million and the Asian Development Bank has been successfully in mobilizing $300 million in co-finance.”
“We are a global environmental facility, so our aim is to foster global diversity and the coral triangle is the ‘Amazon of the Oceans,’ a reference to the huge Amazon rainforest of South America that is considered vital to carbon sequestration. So it’s a global heritage,” the delegate said.
CTI gets $120m to protect marine environment
Adianto P. Simamora and Indah Setiawati, The Jakarta Post 16 May 09;
Leaders of the six Coral Triangle countries concluded their summit in Manado on Friday with state members and donors pledging a total of US$120 million in funding for coral conservation activities in the 75,000-square-kilometer Coral Triangle area.
The Coral Triangle - bounded by Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Timor Leste and Indonesia -makes up 1 percent of the Earth's surface but contains 76 percent of its coral reef species and 37 percent of its reef fish species, and supports the lives of more than 100 million people.
Under the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF), the leaders signed a declaration vowing to cooperate to safeguard the world's richest marine resources and ensure the income, livelihoods and food security of millions dependent on the triangle.
In his opening speech, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pledged US$5 million to support the implementation of CTI programs, and also offered to host the CTI's permanent secretariat by providing full financial support for its daily operations.
"If other coral triangle countries accept this offer, we are prepared to provide full financial support for the day-to-day operations of the secretariat," he said.
Yudhoyono, Malaysian prime minister Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak, Papua New Guinea prime minister Michael Somare, Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Solomon Islands prime minister Derek Sikua and Timor Leste president Jose Ramos Horta then adopted the CTI Regional Plan of Action, a non-binding document to conserve and manage coastal and marine resources within the coral triangle.
The Philippines has promised to contribute $5 million, with Papua New Guinea and Malaysia pledging $2 million and $1million, respectively.
From the donor countries, the US will commit $41.6 million and Australia said it would provide an initial $1.5 million. The Global Environment Facility (GEF), the largest donor organization under the UN, has provided $63 million.
Najib said the implementation of coral triangle projects should be based on national priorities and in line with national policies of each of the six member countries.
"We, too, must recognize the role of local and indigenous communities in this area and integrate their traditional, scientific, technical and technological knowledge in this project," he told the summit. "This is to ensure relevancy of the project on the ground."
Somare said 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.
