JP/4/Maluku
LIPI to conduct marine census in Halmahera Sea
The Jakarta Post Jakarta
The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) plans to carry out a census of marine resources in the Halmahera Sea, off the eastern part of North Maluku, to compile a database on the sea's biodiversity.
The program, called the Halmahera Expedition, will be start in September 2005, LIPI head Umar A. Jenie said.
The planned expedition is part of a cooperation agreement signed on Friday by LIPI and the North Maluku provincial administration. The agreement also covers research in other areas of natural resources, as well as training and education for the local community and small and medium-sized businesses. The training aims to educate the local community on how to exploit their rich local natural resources in a sustainable way and help boost the economy of the province, which has just started to recover from years of sectarian strife. The various programs will cost around Rp 4.5 billion (about US$492 million).
Umar said that LIPI had previously conducted several similar marine resource censuses in 2003 in the Makassar Strait, and around the islands of Bangka and Belitung.
He added that a number of overseas research institutions from Japan, the U.S. and some European countries had expressed interest in participating in the new expedition plan.
North Maluku Governor Thaib Armaiyn said during the signing ceremony that the joint program with LIPI was expected to help the province in the development of its rich natural resources particularly the marine sector.
He said that the marine life census should provide comprehensive data on the potential of the marine resources, which in turn would attract new investment.
"An implementable and marketable development planning scheme is needed to optimize North Maluku's natural resources management in an integrated, directed and guaranteed way and thus raise the living standards of the North Maluku community," he said.
The province was previously part of Maluku, but after two years of conflicts and riots, starting in 1999, the province was split into North Maluku, with the provincial administration seated in Ternate, and Maluku, with Ambon as its capital.
About 8,000 people died and 4,000 were injured during the conflict. Thousands of houses, offices, schools and markets were burned down or destroyed, and around 700,000 people were displaced.(005)