Munich 5.7.2005
GAF is active in Indonesia under contract for the Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Program, Phase II.
GAF AG, an international active geo-information company,
provides its services for the Indonesian Institute of Sciences,
Jakarta, in a project funded by a loan from the Asian Development Bank,
Manila. The contract covers 6 districts in Sumatra and is part of the
COREMAP II activities.
Indonesia`s coral reef resources
Indonesia
has 17,600 islands with 80,000 km of shorelines and is known to have
the richest coral reefs in the world. The coral reefs of Indonesia
serve many purposes for their adjacent coastal communities: natural
barriers that protect the beach; natural barriers that are there to be
modified to make boat launching less difficult; habitats for locally
consumed seafood and habitats for seafood harvest and cage rearing for
net income generation to the village. The coral reefs, however, are
facing immense threats from human activities such as overexploitation,
destructive fishing, and pollution, which have become widespread
throughout the country.
CRITC Project
Using
coral reef resources properly will sustain and increase their value to
coastal villagers in the long term as habitats for diverse fisheries,
sources of building materials, and protectors of shorelines. CRITC
(Coral Reef Information and Training Centers) has the objective of
ensuring the timely provision of directed research, monitoring results
and information necessary to support collaborative coral reef
management. CRITC is aimed at the wise and sustainable use of coral
reef resource systems and is part of COREMAP Phase II and its
institutional strengthening component.
CRITC advocates a ‘sustainable use of
renewable resources’ paradigm that requires a growth in the mindset of
partners from one which has been focused on methods, to one which
focuses on the capacity of coral reef resources to be sustainably used
and modified by the populations. It promulgates the ideas of coral
reefs and their resources as dynamic and constantly renewable entities,
with substantial capacity to continue to support the needs of people
(when carefully managed), but with ecological limits on that capacity
and with serious environmental costs and opportunity losses for
exceeding that capacity.
What that capacity is varies greatly
between coral reef locations and is dependent on the location, area and
height of the reefs, the local human population size, the extent to
which they exploit the reefs, and the effects of outside influences,
such as renegade fishers from other districts or even other countries,
and from natural disturbances. The tsunami of December 26th 2004 and
earthquake of March 27th 2005 are tragic examples of the latter,
highlighting both the physical and psychological trauma that
unmanageable external events can bring.
The project comprises the following components and activities:
- monitoring of district reef health and fisheries
- collection, analysis and dissemination of socio economic data
- support to coral reef management education
- empowerment of its members through appropriate and
effective recruitment and training, technological support and an
effective work program - development of activity plans for the implementation of a strong National CRITC network, with a central
- node in Jakarta and district nodes in six sites around Sumatra, and the establishment of strong links between them
- strengthening of already existing network elements through
establishment of infrastructure, institutional capability and training - embedding local knowledge
- develop National CRITC so that it can grow by itself and
becomes recognized as Indonesia‘s premier point of access to global
coral reef information resources - development of organizational, human and institutional capabilities and connections
- generation of a Program Implementation Manual
The project started in January 2005 and is
expected to be completed by July 2007. The project area covers six
districts of Sumatra. A project performance indicator for this
Consultancy Project will be the extent to which Central and District
CRITC leaders and staff are guided and supported by the manual‘s plans.
GAF AG is the lead firm in association
with Sagric International Pty. Ltd. of Australia and PT. Geosys
Intipiranti of Indonesia. The consultancy team has skills and
experience in the fields of coral reef ecology, coral reef management,
and information management systems.
David Peters, GAF representative in
Indonesia and Project Manager observes: “The CRITC project is an
important milestone for GAF, now providing technical assistance
services to this geographic area from its new representative office in
Jakarta. The CRITC project underlines the emphasis GAF is now devoting
to environmental consulting in the costal and marine domains.”
About COREMAP
COREMAP
(Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Program) began in 1998. It is
a long term program with the overall objective to establish a viable,
operational, and institutionalized coral reef management system in
priority sites in Indonesia. It consists of three phases: Phase I:
Initiation (1998 2004), Phase II: Decentralization and Acceleration
(2004 2009), Phase III: Institutionalization (2010 2015).
COREMAP is now in Phase II, with goals of establishing viable reef
management systems in at least six priority Participating Districts in
order to empower and to support coastal communities to sustainably co
manage the use of coral reefs and associated ecosystem resources. The
second phase expands the number of program sites to build upon the
pilots tested in Phase I and focuses on promoting collaborative
management partnership between communities and local governments.
About GAF
GAF AG is an international company with
leading competence and expertise in applied remote sensing, spatial
information systems and capacity building. GAF AG offers a
comprehensive portfolio of services ranging from supply of geo-data
(e.g. satellite and aerial imagery, digital elevation models), image
processing, thematic mapping, GIS/DBMS applications, software
development, training and environmental consulting. GAF has a proven
track-record in performing technical assistance projects in the
environmental sector and delivering customized spatial-, cadastre and
land information systems. For over two decades, GAF AG´s activities
have been overseen by the CEO, Dr. Rupert Haydn.
To obtain more information, please contact:
GAF AG
Dr. Stefan Saradeth
Tel. +49 (0) 89 12 15 28 0
info@gaf.de
(Credits GAF AG)