Govt tighten management of coastal environment

Govt tighten management of coastal environment

JAKARTA (JP): The government has launched a project to improve
the management of the coastal areas in order to better tap the
natural resources without harming the environment.

The coastal zone environmental and resources management
project, launched on Monday, will integrate the activities of
various agencies in coastal areas.

Surna T. Djajadiningrat, Assistant to the Minister of
Environment overseeing operational coordination, said during a
workshop coinciding with the launching that the project is part
of the cooperation program between the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations and the Australia Economic Cooperation.

Indonesia has already had two programs on coastal management.

The first, to oversee coastal living resources and tides, was
carried out in cooperation with the National Survey and Mapping
Coordinating Agency. The second, managing marine science and
technology, was conducted with the Agency for the Assessment and
Application of Technology.

The two-day workshop, attended by scientists and government
officials from related agencies, was to discuss a study utilizing
data from the Geographic Information System and the building of a
network of information gathered by Natural Resources Information
Center.

The project will be carried out in Bunaken, North Sulawesi,
where vast coral reefs are a major tourist attraction, but which
often overlap with other human activities such as fishing.

Richard Kenchington, Senior Director of Australia's Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park's External Services Section, said
coastal zone management requires an approach which can
accommodate the interests of many parties.

"The task of coastal management is very complicated because it
involves all areas of human life...Political reasons are often a
major concern in a decision-making process," Kenchington said.

He emphasized that all aspects of a project along coastal
zones must be must be considered carefully in order to ensure
that the benefits exceed the costs.

"The benefits of land reclamation, for instance, could mean
the cost of people living near the beach who live from tourism,
or from fishing," he cited.

Commenting on plans for a major land reclamation project in
the Jakarta Bay, Kenchington said the easiest task would be in
determining the physical aspects and impacts of the reclamation,
which could be done by means of computer-modeling.

"But there are biological, social, cultural, jurisdictional
and economical aspects which are much harder to calculate. The
closer you get to human beings, the more complicated the problem
gets," Kenchington said. (pwn)