$35m debt-for-nature deal aims to protect Indonesia’s coral reefs

JAKARTA — A milestone debt-for-nature agreement to conserve coral reefs in Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelagic country, has drawn a mix of optimism and skepticism from environmentalists. While welcoming the flush of funding and attention to the country’s imperiled reef ecosystems, some warn that to be successful, the agreement must reshape the way reef conservation is practiced, in particular by enhancing monitoring of project outcomes.

“If we want to continue coral reef restoration and conservation projects over the next nine years in the same way as before, then we will repeat the same failures,” Parid Ridwanuddin, oceans lead at the Indonesian Forum for the Environment, a prominent national pressure group known as Walhi, told Mongabay Indonesia.

The $35 million debt-for-nature swap between Indonesia and the U.S. aims to conserve coral reefs in eastern Indonesia over the next nine years, with the funding offset by canceled sovereign debt payable to the U.S. On Aug. 8 the Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR) formally announced the deal, although the governments of Indonesia and the U.S. had sealed it in July. The GFCR, an international public-private finance body, provided financial and technical support for the debt swap, according to the announcement.

“This agreement helps reinforce the idea that a healthy ocean is in the global interest and a shared responsibility,” said Victor Gustaaf Manoppo, director-general of marine management at Indonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries.

Indonesian conservation organizations Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara (YKAN) and Yayasan Konservasi Cakrawala Indonesia (YKCI), along with their respective international affiliates, The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International, will oversee fieldwork using grant funding established under the swap.

The U.S. Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Act of 1998 enables low- and middle-income countries to relieve their debt to the U.S. government by directing funding of tropical forest and reef conservation.

The $35 million swap, the first such agreement covering coral reefs as well as the first reached between the U.S. and Indonesia, will focus on reefs in the Banda Seascape, the Bird’s Head Seascape, and in Lesser Sunda, all located in the east of the archipelago in a biodiversity zone known as the Coral Triangle that encompasses Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.

Programs funded under the agreement will aim to strengthen marine protected areas, upgrade natural resource management, and foster sustainable livelihoods across Indonesia’s portion of the Coral Triangle, the GFCR said in a statement.

However, environmental groups say an important consequence of the debt swap will ideally be more robust monitoring of the impact of reef conservation work commissioned under the swap.

Via Fix the News