Since 1998, P2O LIPI has been involved in the COREMAP national activities, according to Dirhamsyah, the P2O chairman.
Under the COREMAP, various data and scientific information concern the management and restoration efforts of the coastal ecosystem, including coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass, to support the national policies on coastal area rehabilitation and management, he noted.
The national-level policies are crucial, as several people in Indonesia, which is a maritime nation, rely on coastal areas as resources and center of economic growth.
The program has yielded an index on coral and seagrass field ecosystem health, monitoring of coral and seagrass field ecosystem health, setting up of a database of national coastal ecosystem, training and certificates, demand-based priority researches, and implementation of expeditions in outermost islands.
The Nusa Manggala Expedition is currently being organized until December 23, 2018, to identify the potential of coastal natural resources in the outermost isles in Papua, West Papua, and North Maluku.
The isles located in Pacific Ocean include Yiew, Budd, Fani, Miossu, Fanildo, Bras, Bepondi, and Liki.
The expedition covers four themes: ecology, environmental threshold, geomorphology, and socio-economic.
The Expose of 20 Years of COREMAP was also highlighted with a talk show on exploration of Indonesian waters and an exhibition on COREMAP activities during 2018.
COREMAP monitoring and measurement show that Indonesia`s coral reefs span an area of 25 thousand square kilometers, or some 10 percent of the total coral reefs in the world, covering 284.3 thousand square kilometers.
"As the center of the world`s coral triangle, Indonesia has the highest diversity of coral species, comprising 569 species from 82 genera and 15 families, or some 70 percent of the world`s coral species. Five of those species are endemic," Dirhamsyah noted.
Data, information, and knowledge obtained from the COREMAP research are stored in the Coastal Ecosystem Data Center.
Reporting by Virna P Setyorini, Fardah
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
