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Drastic steps needed to save 100 million coastal inhabitants
Jakarta Post - May 14, 2009
Some 100 million people living on Southeast Asia's coasts could lose their homes and livelihoods unless the world unites to save its coral reefs by drastically slashing carbon emissions and resolving overfishing problems, a study says.
The Coral Triangle – bounded by Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Timor Leste and Indonesia – makes up only 1 percent of the Earth's surface but contains 30 percent of its coral reefs and 37 percent of its reef fish species.
The triangle supports the livelihoods of more than 100 million people, according to the report, titled The Coral Triangle and Climate Change: Ecosystem, People and Society at Risk, launched Wednesday in Manado by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on the sidelines of the World Ocean Conference.
The 220-page report – drawn from more than 300 published studies and the works of more than 20 experts in biology, economics and fishery sciences – warned that if carbon emissions were not cut by 25-40 percent by 2020, higher ocean temperatures could kill vast marine ecosystems and half the fish in them.
"If we continue along our current trajectory and do little to protect coastal environments from the onslaught of local threats, then tens of millions of people will be forced to move from rural and coastal settings due to loss of homes, food resources and income, putting pressure on regional cities and surrounding developed nations such as Australia and New Zealand," said the research team leader Ove Hoegh-Guldberg from the University of Queensland.
Ove added that the coral triangle had been damaged over the course of the last century by rapid increases in ocean temperatures, acidity and sea levels.
Coastal environment resilience had also deteriorated under faltering coastal management, increasing poverty and plummeting food security, he said.
The report shows there is an opportunity to avoid a worst-case scenario and instead build a resilient coral triangle in which economic growth, food security and the environment are maintained – if significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are backed up by international investment in strengthening the region's environment.
The report urges world leaders to support coral triangle countries in efforts to protect their most vulnerable communities from rising sea levels and loss of food and livelihoods.
It also recommends strengthening the management of marine resources and calls for agreements on greenhouse gas reductions at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December.
Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar thanked the WWF for publishing the report, saying Indonesia and other ocean countries would do their utmost to push forward ocean issues and coral triangle problems, in Copenhagen.
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