Indonesia is a pioneer in the restoration of coral reefs

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

Indonesia, according to researchers at Java's IPB University, is doing more to rebuild coral reefs than any other country on the planet.

 

Indonesia's Penida Archipelago -
Indonesia is one of the world's most high-profile environmental violators, with widespread deforestation, some of the world's most polluted towns and rivers, and wildfires that coat neighbouring countries in smog.

However, according to a soon-to-be-released assessment revealed to Al Jazeera ahead of publication, the fast industrialising Southeast Asian nation is doing more to restore the delicate marine ecosystems than any other country on the planet when it comes to coral reefs.

 

According to the survey, Indonesia has over 500 coral reef rehabilitation initiatives.

“There has been a massive push to rehabilitate reefs all around the world in recent years.
Tries Razak, a scientist researching coral reef restoration at Java's IPB University who headed the survey, said, "In terms of the number of documented projects, Indonesia is the world leader."
"It's a remarkable achievement that goes hand in hand with the government's ambitious aim to build 30 million hectares of Marine Protected Areas to ensure that Indonesia's coral reefs do not perish in our generation."

 

The findings are in line with a research released earlier this month by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, which found that between 2009 and 2018, global warming contributed to the extinction of 14 percent of the world's coral reefs.

The survey revealed that Southeast Asia's so-called Coral Triangle, which includes Indonesia and is home to roughly a third of the world's coral reefs, was not as badly affected by rising waters and, in some cases, showed signs of recovery.

 

"Since the early 1990s, Indonesia has been the only site in the world where much of the study and restoration to stabilise undersea rubble has been done," said Queensland University's Peter Mumby, a major researcher on coral reef ecosystem resilience.

"They're a long way ahead of us."