ASIATODAY.ID, DUBAI – The Indonesian government is collaborating with the marine exploration initiative, OceanX, cooperation to increase marine potential in Indonesia.
The cooperation agreement was conveyed by the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Erick Thohir, when welcoming delegates to the Indonesia Night event at the OceanXplorer Research Vessel, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Thursday, 30 November 2023.
“The Indonesian government and OceanX have agreed to conduct joint exploration in Indonesia next year,” he said in an official statement.
Erick said OceanX is an ocean exploration initiative founded by Mark Dalio and Ray Dalio, who were among the founders of Bridgewater Associates.
The marine exploration cooperation will cover many topics, such as marine biodiversity, blue carbon, fish stock assessment, earthquake mapping and deep sea exploration.
Erick is optimistic that this exploration can unlock Indonesia’s marine potential.
Apart from marine potential, Erick continued, collaboration with OceanX also focuses on increasing human resource capacity and building public awareness of the importance of the ocean.
“We sent 15 students from the Azores to Malta to take part in the OceanX Young Explorer Program. We also held public lectures at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), University of Indonesia (UI), and Sepuluh November Institute of Technology (ITS),” said Erick.
Not only that, to strengthen this collaboration, Erick also invited other parties to get involved in Indonesian marine exploration to uncover untapped marine potential.
According to Erick, in the last 10 years, Indonesia has transformed its economy. Indonesia also has a concrete strategy to develop through industrialization, decarbonization, interconnection, digitalization and economic distribution in encouraging sustainable and fair economic growth.
“With this strategy, we are confident that we can become a high-income country and one of the top five economies in the world by 2045. Therefore, we invite all partners to be part of our journey to achieve our 2045 vision, namely a Golden Indonesia,” said Erick.
Climate change
Meanwhile, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Ocean Pavilion at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) The 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28), Erick Thohir emphasized that action to protect the ocean is very crucial in overcoming climate change.
“We cannot mitigate climate change without maritime action,” said Erick.
On that occasion, Erick emphasized Indonesia’s commitment to facing climate change. Indonesia is the guardian of the world’s oceans with more than 70 percent of its territory being oceans.
Erick said that Indonesian waters are home to most of the global coral reefs, seagrasses and mangroves, which can recover at least 17 percent of global blue carbon.
“The ocean regulates our climate and can significantly buffer the worst impacts of climate change, by absorbing carbon dioxide emissions and heat from the atmosphere caused by human activities,” he continued.
Erick said changes in sea temperature are affecting fish migration patterns and disrupting traditional fishing seasons. Indonesia, he continued, is also taking concrete steps to overcome pollution of marine ecosystems due to plastic and which can damage marine ecosystems.
“To protect the ocean and its marine biodiversity, Indonesia has designated almost 10 percent of the ocean as a marine protected area,” he continued.
Erick said the government has even allocated 30 percent of Indonesia’s oceans as marine protected areas by 2045. In addition, Indonesia has implemented a coral reef restoration project to mitigate the impact of coral bleaching and mangrove forests as an important source of blue carbon that can protect coastal areas.
“The world will benefit from our 3.36 million hectares of mangrove forests and 1.8 million hectares of seagrass beds. Not only that, apart from ecological benefits, blue carbon ecosystems can also support coastal livelihoods,” he said.
Erick said that plastic pollution has become one of the government’s priorities through the national action plan for handling plastic waste in the sea since 2019. These efforts have a significant impact in reducing marine plastic waste leakage by around 36 percent by the end of 2022.
“With support from partners, we are optimistic that we can achieve the target of reducing 70 percent by the end of 2025 and near zero plastic pollution by 2040,” continued Erick.
Erick said that climate change mitigation requires collaborative efforts from the international community. Erick also appreciated the collaborative efforts of the WEF and Indonesia on the ocean agenda (Ocean20) in the G20 in building a multi-stakeholder collaboration platform to tackle marine plastic pollution through national plastic action partnerships, as well as new initiatives regarding blue carbon management.
“Now is the time to act. Our legacy can be resilience, responsibility and commitment to preserving the oceans, for the sake of our nation, the world and future generations,” said Erick. (AT Network)
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