Indonesia has completed surveys on its 13,000 islands

Antara 18 Aug 10;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has conducted a survey on the number and naming of its islands, a senior official said.

The survey shows that Indonesia only has about 13,000 islands that scatter from Sabang in the west to Marauke in the east. "The total number of our islands is only about 13,000. This figure is based on data of our latest survey," Director General for Coastal areas and Small Islands, Sudirman Saad, said here on Tuesday.

He said that the decreasing number of Indonesian islands had nothing to do with the surge of sea water due to global warming or with quarrying of sea sand.

"This is only a matter of data accuracy. So far, no surveys on the number of islands in Indonesia have been conducted," he said.

He said that accurate data on the number of Indonesian islands were obtained after the Maritime and Fisheries Ministry finalized the validity of its surveys on the naming of islands in the country.

"The validation work has been completed. It was finished this year," he said.
He said that in 2012 all names of islands in Indonesia which total about 13,000 would have been registered with the United Nations.

The government will also in the near future issue a government regulation which among others include the names of islands in Indonesia, he said.

"We hope that the government regulation would have been issued before the end of this year," the director general said.

It was earlier known that Indonesia, which had the longest coastal lines in the world, had 13,480 islands.
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