CORAL TRIANGLE INITIATIVE SUMMIT
OPENING AND KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY
H.E. DR. SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO
PRESIDENT REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
MANADO, 15 MAY 2009
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,
Assalamu'alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
Peace Be Upon Us,
Excellency President Arroyo,
Excellency President Ramos-Horta,
Excellency Prime Minister Somare,
Excellency Prime Minister Sikua,
Excellency Prime Minister Najib,
Coral Triangle Initiative Partners,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to welcome all of you to this first-ever Coral Triangle Initiative Summit. I am grateful to the distinguished leaders of the Coral Triangle countries for their support and cooperation that made this endeavor a reality.
I also deeply appreciate the presence of representatives of Coral Triangle Initiative Partners. Their crucial support in various forms has made this Initiative feasible.
Our aim today is to ensure a brighter future for the peoples of the Coral Triangle. Our oceans are beneficial to us in many aspects - as a supplier of food security, provider of economic livelihood, and an important player in the struggle against global warming.
We are also here to correct an oversight.
Seventeen years ago, the Earth Summit convened in Rio de Janeiro. In that Summit, world leaders signed landmark agreements to halt the loss of biodiversity, to safeguard the world's climate and to better manage the world's forest.
But they signed no agreement on the one environment that covers about 72 percent of the earth's surface and provides sustenance to humankind - the oceans. They also signed no agreement that would particularly address the problems of the environment where half of the world's population lives - the coasts.
This is not to say that nothing has been done about our oceans and our coasts. Our governments have taken important steps in our national policies to protect these oceans and their invaluable living resources. We have all established marine protected areas. We have all put in place laws and policies to manage our fisheries.
Collectively, we have taken some important actions together such as the tri-national agreements on the Sulu-Sulawesi Seas and the Bismarck-Solomon Seas; the Regional Plan of Action on Responsible Fisheries; and, within the framework of APEC, the Seoul Oceans Declaration and the Bali Ministerial Plan of Action on Oceans and Coasts. But these efforts are not enough.
As we sit here today, scientists warn us that our marine and coastal resources are being depleted by over fishing, destructive fishing practices, unsustainable coastal development, pollution and climate change. In parts of the Coral Triangle, they have already caused significant depletion of coastal and pelagic fish stocks. They have caused massive losses of mangrove forests and vast degradation of coral reef systems. Now, many of our marine and coastal species are on the brink of extinction.
Scientists have advised us that we have so much to lose if we do not pay attention to the fate of our corals. The Coral Triangle is a globally-recognized treasure. It is unique: there is nothing like it on earth. It is the global center of marine life abundance and marine life diversity. If its natural systems were to be damaged beyond repair, it would be a tragedy for the whole planet.
That is why we are here today, to prevent the loss of that unique treasure and to enhance it for the sake of generations to come.
This Summit therefore is more than just an effort to secure present and future welfare of our peoples. It is about ensuring food security for humankind. Our citizens and citizens of other nations rely on tuna, reef fish, shrimp, seaweed farming, and marine-based tourism for their livelihood. The international trade in marine based commodities is a major contributor to the growth of our GDP.
We can and we must increase the productivity of these resources as demand and consumption grows with the growth in population.
This Summit is also about the conquest of poverty in our part of the world. This is about reaching and surpassing the Millennium Development Goals.
And, finally, this is about our moral obligation to care for the greatest wealth of marine life on the planet. We have a moral obligation to nurture these animals, plants and ecosystems.
The attainment of these goals will be a high point in the journey that the six Coral Triangle governments began in Bali just a year and a half ago. That was when we committed to a common vision to sustainably manage the marine and coastal resources of our region.
We also invited partners to join us in that effort. The governments of the United States and Australia, the Asian Development Bank, the Global Environment Facility, Nature Conservancy, Conservation International and the World Wildlife Fund readily accepted this role. Since then, interest in our Initiative has grown enormously and the number of support partners has increased.
And since then, within the CTI Roadmap process, our six governments and our partners have achieved a new level common understandings.
First, our six countries have formally recognized that the Coral Triangle is the very centre of marine life abundance and marine life diversity on the planet. And over 100 million of our citizens depend every day on these critical marine resources for their income, their livelihoods, their food security, and the protection of their coasts.
Second, our six countries have recognized that the threats to these precious marine and coastal resources are growing each day. These threats stem from climate change that is causing the sea level to rise and the sea surface temperature to increase. We must therefore adapt to these climate change impacts. We need a risk reduction strategy.
Third, our six countries have recognized that we must address these threats and reverse these trends. Our six countries have therefore jointly developed a Regional Plan of Action, the boldest and most ambitious marine action plan ever agreed by governments. This will transform the way we manage our marine and coastal resources, and reshape our future.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On the part of Indonesia, and as demonstration of our commitment to the CTI Regional Plan of Action, my Government is immediately taking several vigorous measures.
Immediately after this Summit, I will sign a Presidential Decree creating a national committee of relevant ministers to meet annually to advance the implementation of the Coral Triangle Initiative.
I am also pleased to announce that just this week, my government formally established the Savu Sea National Marine Fisheries Sanctuary, covering some 3.9 million hectares in the southern seas of Indonesia, bordering Timor-Leste. We have thus created some 13.4 million hectares of marine protected areas, considerably exceeding the target set some years ago of 10 million hectares of marine protected areas across Indonesia by 2010.
Today I am announcing a new target for Indonesia: to achieve 20 million hectares of marine protected areas across Indonesia by 2020. Their protection will be strictly enforced and sufficiently financed.
Over the next three years, the government of Indonesia will seek a doubling of the current national budget dedicated to specific programmes and activities stipulated in the CTI Regional Plan of Action.
At the same time, we are offering to host a permanent CTI Secretariat in Indonesia to support the implementation of the CTI Regional Plan of Action. If the other Coral Triangle countries accept this offer, we are prepared to provide full financial support for the day-to-day operations of that Secretariat.
I am also pleased to announce that the Government of Indonesia is now ready to pledge US$ 5 million for the CTI program.
Finally, I am instructing my ministers to work with their counterparts in the other Coral Triangle countries to hammer out a common position for negotiations toward a new climate change regime in Copenhagen later this year. That position will have to be based on our shared vision of caring for our ocean and coastal resources. And I appeal to all governments and all nations to support that position. I call on all stakeholders-civil society, non-governmental organizations, the mass media, the academy, and the private business sector-to join us in promoting that position. For no regime on climate change will work if it does not take into account the reality of our oceans and coastal areas, and the severity of their distress.
None of us can escape the deeper truth : that the long-term survival of human life depends a great deal on the capacity of our oceans to sustain life.
From this Summit, finally, let us send forth to the world this simple but urgent message: let us now take care of our oceans-our marine and coastal resources-so that they will, in turn, take care of us.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
That's the good time for opening remark.
I would right now invite Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to deliver her speech.
Biro Naskah dan Penerjemahan,
Deputi Mensesneg Bidang Dukungan Kebijakan,
Sekretariat Negara RI