Indonesia is in the centre of the Coral Triangle, which has the world’s highest reef biodiversity. This high biodiversity is not only due to Indonesia’s geographical location around the equator where the Pacific and Indian Oceans mix, but also by the complex currents and the high diversity in habitat types and ecosystems.
Indonesia’s increasing population and economic development are causing increased pressure on marine resources. Failure to adopt environmentally sound development criteria resulted in excessive and unsustainable use of marine resources (over-exploitation). Therefore, there is a need for management that results in a wise, planned and controlled marine resource use.
One of the natural resource protection measures that may be applied is protected area management at sites with high biodiversity or with unique natural phenomena. Such protected areas, known as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Marine Conservation Areas (MCAs) or Kawasan Konservasi Laut (KKL), ensure sustainable use of marine organisms and their ecosystems. Furthermore MCAs preserve genetic sources (sumber plasma nutfah). An MCA is a marine area, including coastal areas and small islands, where plants, animals, and ecosystems, as well as historical and cultural heritage sites are protected by law or by any other effective means (definition based on KOMNASKOLAUT 2005). Within an MCA, use is regulated through a zoning system, which determines which uses are allowed and where they are allowed. Examples of regulated uses are fisheries, tourism and exploitation of oil and gas.
The Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (Departemen Kelautan dan Perikanan / DKP) targets to establish MCAs with a combined area of 10 million hectares by 2010. In connection with this target, the Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Program (COREMAP) supports the development of MCAs in Indonesia by, among others, the preparation of the “Grand Strategy for a Network of MCAs”, which will be developed into the “National Strategy for MCAs and MCA Networks”. The Grand Strategy and the National Strategy are required as a basic reference to guide the development of MCAs and MCA networks. Furthermore, the National Strategy will form an umbrella for policies and strategies of central and regional governments that are aligned with global developments in this sector.
Grand Strategy Marine Conservation Area Networks as ATTACHED
