Coastal development needs locals

JAKARTA: Coastal and maritime development in the coming 10 years must empower local communities to manage their natural resources in a sustainable manner, an expert said on Tuesday.

Tridoyo Kusumastanto of the Bogor Agriculture Institute said coastal and maritime development had so far neglected the role of local communities.

"We have produced rulings and implemented projects to develop our coastal and maritime resources over the past decade, but failed to encourage public participation," he said during a national workshop.

Attendants at the workshop included Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Rokhmin Dahuri and former environment minister Emil Salim.

Tridoyo urged the use of foreign loans for coastal and maritime development to help improve the prosperity of local communities.

"We lack pro-coastal community, non-elitist and participatory- based policies," Tridoyo said.-JP