CI warns of coral reef destruction

CI warns of coral reef destruction

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Conservation International (CI) warned on Tuesday that Indonesia
would lose its coral reefs in 10 years if the government was
unable to conserve them and people continued to use fish bombs.

"People who use fish bombs may be not evil as they only do it
because they have to make a living. But people must realize that
if they continue to destroy coral reefs, they will eliminate
fish, food and their incomes in the future," Peter A. Seligmann,
CI's chief executive officer, told The Jakarta Post.

According to Seligmann, Indonesia would become known as a
country that destroyed the natural gifts that were bestowed upon
it if the destruction of reefs persisted.

During his visit to Indonesia, Seligmann is scheduled to meet
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, State Minister for the
Environment Nabiel Makarim and Minister of Forestry M. Prakosa.

He had earlier met with Minister of Maritime Affairs and
Fisheries Rokhmin Dahuri.

Indonesia has over 17,000 islands, making it the largest
island state in the world.

Seligmann suggested that the government draft a law to protect
reefs.

"Such a law is not for the sake of the international
community. It is for the benefit of Indonesians," said Jatna
Supriatna, regional vice president of CI for Indonesia, who
accompanied Seligmann.

Seligmann said that Indonesia needed to ensure that reef areas
were well protected to allow fish to grow, and to set aside areas
for fishing.

The government is also obliged to educate people to support
sustainable fishing, he added.

Seligmann realized that Indonesia was facing a lot of
environmental issues, including illegal logging, but the
government and people could not just resolve one problem and
ignore the others.

Nevertheless, he praised Megawati's and Minister Rokhmin's
commitment to improving the condition of coral reefs in
Indonesia.

Seligmann said CI had offered support to Indonesia to
establish a trust fund for marine conservation.

"We will contribute US$1 million to help support the planned
establishment of the trust fund," he said.

"We are really committed to the plan."

He said that CI would talk with the Indonesian government
about possible contributors to the fund, its management and other
details over the next few months.