Senior Officials’ Meeting of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security

Dr. Gerhard Kuska, Associate Director, White House Council on Environmental Quality and Director of Ocean and Coastal Policy.

Distinguished Chairmen and Representatives of the member nations of the Coral Triangle Initiative, guests, ladies and gentlemen: Thank you for inviting the United States to join you in your discussions on the Coral Triangle Initiative. My name is Dr. Gerhard Kuska and I am the Associate Director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Director of Ocean and Coastal Policy. In this role I represent and provide advice to the President and to the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality on a broad range of ocean, coastal, and maritime policy issues.

I am very pleased to attend this session together with my colleagues, Dan Reifsnyder from the US Department of State, Alfred Nakatsuma from the US Agency for International Development, and Colette Marcellin from the US Embassy in Jakarta.

When President Yudhoyono met with President Bush in Sydney not long ago, President Yudhoyono spoke about the concept of a Coral Triangle Initiative and expressed interest in U.S. support. President Bush singled out President Yudhoyono’s leadership on coral reef conservation during their joint press opportunity in Sydney and expressed the United States’ interest to help.

I am delighted to reaffirm President Bush’s commitment for the United States to work with you to move the Coral Triangle Initiative forward. The United States welcomes this Initiative and the commitments of its members, and we look forward to working with you as you conserve and manage the extraordinary marine resources within the Coral Triangle.

Our support for the Coral Triangle Initiative builds upon three decades of United States investments in the region. Investments have been made, and continue to be made, in coastal resources management, fisheries management, marine protected areas, and marine research to promote sustainable development, sound governance, peace and security, food security, and adaptation to climate change.

The United States has supported both broad and targeted efforts throughout the Coral Triangle—including in the Pacific island nations, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, and the Solomon Islands—to strengthen coastal governance, conserve marine biodiversity and reform fisheries management.

Many current domestic and international policy efforts undertaken by the United States in the area of marine and coastal management and conservation are aligned with the goals of the Coral Triangle Initiative and could support your efforts directly or through example as you continue to develop elements of the Initiative.

In 2004, President Bush released an Ocean Action Plan to make our oceans and coasts and Great Lakes, cleaner, healthier, and more productive. Two important aspects of the Ocean Action Plan included protection of critical resources such as coral reef ecosystems and fisheries resources. We have been making great progress.

Last year, President Bush created the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands—the largest fully-protected marine area in the world—as a living laboratory to improve our understanding of and protect the important ecosystems contained within the over 360,000 square kilometers that make-up the monument.

The United States can also share its Marine Protected Area (MPA) network expertise, including the recent development of a "Framework for Developing a National System of MPAs," which will help resource managers and stakeholders work together to better share information and coordinate management efforts, provide scientific information for informed management decisions, and improve effectiveness of existing marine protected areas.

Recently, we launched a Marine Debris Initiative to address this important issue, which is aimed at the estimated 6.4 million tons of marine debris (derelict fishing gear and other discarded materials) that litters the world’s oceans and coasts, and continues to harm our marine environment, natural resources, public safety, and economy.

Fishing is the largest extractive use of wildlife in the world. Over-fishing, by-catch and destructive fishing practices pose great threats to the natural marine resources available to communities in the Coral Triangle, as well as for the rest of the world. Reforming fisheries and coral reef management will be critical to conserving the ecosystem services provided by these renewable global resources.

In the area of fisheries management, we strengthened our Nation’s premiere fishery management law to end overfishing in America, to strengthen enforcement, and to enhance the use of sound science in decision making. Internationally, we worked with our partners to achieve a strong resolution at the United Nations to put an end to destructive fishing practices, such as unregulated bottom trawling on the high seas and the use of explosives and chemicals. And key international provisions of our fisheries law calls for renewed multilateral efforts in addressing sustainable fishing, such as through the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. I think it is important to note that the United States is particularly interested in multilateral efforts to address illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and by-catch.

The U.S. Agency for International Development provides international assistance in coastal management, governance and capacity building. It has on-going programs within the Coral Triangle for assistance on coastal management and marine biodiversity. Alfred will talk about these programs and their role moving forward with Coral Triangle Initiative.

Further, under the Department of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has much to offer in terms of technical expertise and training. In the Coral Triangle region, since 2001, two of NOAA’s small grant programs have provided over $1.4 million to 43 coral reef management projects that have leveraged an additional $1.8 million in matching funds.

Through its small grants programs, technical support, and collaborative partnerships, NOAA has actively supported the development and dissemination of a variety of coral management tools in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Chief among these are efforts to encourage coral reef managers to incorporate socioeconomic analyses into management and decision-making through the Global Socioeconomic Monitoring (SocMon) Initiative; and guidance on how to prepare for and assess impacts from coral bleaching, through the Reef Manager’s Guide to Coral Bleaching guidebook.

The Department of State, USAID and NOAA have supported efforts to assess and mitigate the negative impacts of international trade in coral reef species, particularly the destructive use of cyanide in the live food fish and live reef fish trades. Initiatives relevant to the Coral Triangle region include: implementation of a Cyanide Detection network, comparative assessments of harvest and export quotas vs. resource abundance and condition, and improved regulation of the trade. In the future, US agencies will continue efforts to determine trade volumes of corals and ornamental reef fish and build capacity of exporting/importing capabilities to ensure sustainable trade in coral reef species.

And finally, preserving healthy coral reefs, mangrove forests, coastal watersheds and coastal wetlands can help buffer communities from storms, rising sea levels, rising sea surface temperatures and coral bleaching, changes in rainfall, and floods and droughts associated with global climate changes. Creating fisheries reserves and protecting critical fisheries habitats can also build more resilient fisheries.

Our experience has shown that to be most effective, the range of government entities and non-governmental stakeholders at all levels need to be actively engaged in the development and implementation of strong conservation and management plans.

We look forward to sharing our expertise and experience with you as we work together to build a lasting and effective partnership for the Coral Triangle.

I would like now to turn to my colleagues from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of State.

Alfred Nakatsuma, Chief, Office of Water and Environment, USAID Indonesia

My name is Alfred Nakatsuma and I am here on behalf of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Since 1961, USAID has been the principal U.S. agency to extend assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, engaging in democratic reforms, conserving biodiversity and managing their natural resources.

USAID warmly welcomes this opportunity to work with your countries in support of the CTI. USAID has been a long term supporter of integrated coastal resources management, improved coastal governance, and coral reef conservation within the Coral Triangle, partnering with governments and other stakeholders on local, national and regional scales over the past two decades.

Since the late 1990s, USAID has already provided $33M in marine/coastal conservation programs in the coral triangle region that have come to a close. Currently, USAID is providing $26M for ongoing marine/coastal management programs in the CTI area. In addition to USAID’s efforts, we collaborate with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which currently has $2.5M in coral and fisheries programs in this region.

Examples of USAID work to support coral reef conservation, coastal and marine resource management include:

·For both Indonesia and the Philippines, USAID has been a long-term supporter of coastal governance. In the Philippines, This work helped to establish effective decentralized coastal governance.

·In the Philippines, USAID is currently supporting innovative approaches to reform small-scale fisheries management and address declining fish stocks in four key fisheries ravaged by overfishing.

·In Papua New Guinea, USAID has a history of support for sustainable development through biodiversity conservation in the Kimbe Bay and Bismarck Sea, working with local communities and governments to establish a network of functionally-connected marine protected areas.

·In Fiji and other countries, USAID is using public-private alliances to support efforts to integrate community conservation efforts into tourism development, while encouraging the private sector to act as responsible investors and stewards for marine and coastal resources.

·USAID’s ongoing support to the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion, an area located at the apex of the Coral Triangle itself and shared by Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, serves as both a building block and learning lab for the Coral Triangle Initiative. Through this program, USAID and the U.S. State Department helped establish a Tri-national Working Group that generated a regional plan for managing this shared resource. USAID continues to support site-based activities in both Indonesia and the Philippines as demonstration projects for regional policy development.

·Ongoing USAID work on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), in partnership with WWF, CI, TNC, and WCS and their local partners is helping to establish large-scale networks of MPAs in the Coral Triangle, and sharing valuable lessons learned. For example, in Indonesia, USAID is supporting efforts to integrate ecoregional planning into local development, with success already seen in the Raja Ampat and Wakatobi National Park.

And finally, throughout the Indian Ocean region, as part of our efforts to support development of “end-to-end” tsunami warning capabilities, USAID introduced a forward-looking methodology for promoting resilience in coastal areas.

From our years of support and engagement in these critical issues, USAID has learned some very important lessons for achieving large-scale and lasting development impact. Let me share a bit of what we have learned from you and your countries:

·Most important is a shared vision among stakeholders

·Also important is sustained political will and commitment from all partners

·There must be sustained, on-the-ground presence by the activity implementers

·Public-Private Partnerships are a vital and effective means to utilize market forces for meeting both short and long-term development and conservation goals.

·Information and experience sharing within the region should be encouraged and promoted.

·Finally, improved natural resources management hinges on participatory and transparent governance of the resource. Activities must empower communities to improve their ownership and responsibility over the sustained stewardship of these valuable marine resources, upon which so many lives and livelihoods depend.

We believe these lessons are consonant with the guiding principles that you have discussed thus far for CTI. USAID not only fully supports CTI and the governments efforts within this framework, but has demonstrated its commitment with a broad variety of experiences supporting your governments in coastal and marine resource management in this region. In concert with our national, regional, and local partners, we will seek to harmonize our ongoing initiatives with the unfolding Coral Triangle Initiative.

I am now pleased to defer to Dr. Dan Reifsnyder, who will discuss how the USG will cooperate with your countries from this point forward under the CTI framework.

Daniel A. Reifsnyder, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment and Sustainable Development, U.S. Department of State

Thank you, Messrs. Co-Chairmen – Dr. Indroyono Soesilo and Prof. Dr. Syamsul Maarif. My name is Daniel Reifsnyder and I am Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment and Sustainable Development at the Department of State in Washington, D.C.

My colleagues – Dr. Gerhard Kuska, Director of Ocean and Coastal Policy at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Mr. Alfred Nakatsuma, Disaster Relief and Environmental Officer with the USAID Mission in Indonesia – and I are very pleased to be with you today here in Bali.

In 1995, the United States joined with 10 other governments and organizations to establish the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), one of the first public-private partnerships. Twelve years later, ICRI continues to do great work.

The United States and Mexico currently serve as ICRI co-chairs. They have developed an action plan that seeks to ensure the long term survival, productivity and resiliency of coral reefs. We encourage Coral Triangle countries to participate actively in ICRI’s on-going efforts to halt and reverse the decline of coral reef ecosystems worldwide.

During our co-chairmanship one of our goals is to revitalize ICRI’s regional focus. In ICRI’s early years, we conducted a number of regional workshops aimed at raising awareness of the plight of coral reefs and improving regional capacity to protect reefs. As a current ICRI Co-Chair, the United States would like to work with you to develop a regional workshop specifically for the Coral Triangle.

The United States also recognizes the important role of coral reef ecosystems in supporting the region’s economies through fisheries trade. We are thus pleased to co-sponsor an Indonesian project in the APEC Fisheries Working Group, along with several other Coral Triangle countries, that will develop sustainable management and trade solutions for the highly prized tuna species that use the Coral Triangle region as a spawning ground and nursery for juvenile tuna. The primary goal of this international workshop will be to promote long term economic benefits and food security from these valuable marine resources for the Coral Triangle region and the world.

Let me also highlight another important fishery in the Coral Triangle -- sharks. Sharks play a fundamental role in maintaining the delicate ecological balance that promotes health and resiliency in coral reef ecosystems. In recognition of their importance and susceptibility to over-fishing, in November this year the United States put forward a proposal at the United Nations to strengthen protection for shark populations around the world.

This United Nations resolution, still under consideration, calls on nations and international fisheries organizations to take immediate and concerted actions to improve shark conservation and management and better to enforce existing rules on shark fishing, including bans on shark-finning.

Success in all of these endeavors will require strong commitment and accountability at all levels of government – both within the Coral Triangle and among nations utilizing the resource – to institute better management practices and promote more sustainable livelihoods for current and future generations.

The United States is no stranger to working with partners in this region in a broad array of cooperative efforts. We have heard from Mr. Alfred Nakatsuma with the U.S. Agency for International Development here in Indonesia, who briefly highlighted ongoing U.S. efforts and U.S. efforts that extend back over a number of years.

In addition to these bilateral efforts, the United States is one of the largest contributors to a range of multilateral funding mechanisms, including the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Clearly, the GEF has and should continue to have a significant role in the Coral Triangle Initiative. The United States gives approximately $80 million annually to the GEF, approximately 18% of the GEF’s total contributions. We are pleased that Mme. Monique Barbut, CEO of the GEF, is also with us this morning.

Still, we are conscious that an important new undertaking like the Coral Triangle Initiative will need to work with a range of existing partners and sources as well as look to new and innovative funding opportunities.

To this end, I am pleased to announce today that the United States intends to commit $4.35 million in new funds to the Coral Triangle Initiative. These funds will be in addition to the ongoing efforts of U.S. agencies in the region – like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Agency for International Development. We will use these funds to support the efforts of Coral Triangle partners as they move to identify and prioritize specific actions that will be undertaken in implementing this vital initiative.

I am very pleased to make this announcement here in Bali and believe that it underscores our enthusiasm for the Coral Triangle Initiative and our determination to help make it a success.

Thank you for your attention.