Leaders in the Southeast Asian region agreed to adopt the ASEAN Blue Economy Framework at the ASEAN Summit in Jakarta in September 2023.For Indonesia, as the ASEAN chair this year, development of the blue economy deserves to receive attention, as oceans constitute three-quarters of its territory.
The Ministry of National Development Planning is targeting the blue economy sector to contribute up to 15 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2045 or to increase by around three folds the current figure of 5.3 percent.
To this end, the government is currently striving to develop seven aspects of the blue economy, namely capture and aquaculture fisheries, maritime-based industry, shipbuilding, ecotourism, marine transportation services, biotechnology, and bioeconomy, as well as research and development of marine resources.
However, the development of various blue economy potentials is often solely focused on managing marine resources, although coastal area resources also need to be optimized, for instance, beaches and mangrove forests.
Deputy for Maritime Affairs and Natural Resources at the Ministry of National Development Planning, Vivi Yulaswati, stated that the development of mangrove ecosystems is currently a hot topic of conversation, as they can absorb around 21.9 billion tons of CO2 emissions in Indonesia.
Various countries in subtropical zones that cannot plant mangroves conduct carbon trading by planting mangroves in Indonesia.
The important effort to be made now is to conserve the ecosystems and not to plant new trees or rehabilitate damaged mangrove forests. It is because what serves as a carbon sink or absorber of carbon emissions is the clay in the ecosystem and not the mangrove trees themselves.
Mangrove areas also have the potential to become tourist destinations, such as the 700-year-old mangrove forest in the Belitong UNESCO Global Geopark, Bangka Belitung Islands, and the mangrove ecosystem in the Raja Ampat UNESCO Global Geopark, West Papua.
Regarding mangrove areas, an environmental observer from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Indonesia, Muhammad Yayat Afianto, stated that apart from being a carbon sink and tourist attraction, mangrove forests have vast potential for fisheries, creative economy, and biotechnology.
Hence, the government’s efforts to implement the Indonesian Blue Economy Roadmap 2023-2045, which was released last July and includes efforts to develop the potential of coastal fisheries and mangrove ecosystems, can reduce poverty and hunger rates.
The roadmap is also expected to be able to improve the environment for more than 75 million Indonesians and open up 45 million new job opportunities.
Source: Antara News Agency