On October 21 last year, an important decision was made for the Coral Triangle in South East Asia, which merits great attention for nature-related tourism. This decision is highly relevant to LT&C’s mission and vision: West Papua in Indonesia was declared as the world’s first Conservation Province, according to the Coral Triangle organization. West Papua is the world’s epicentre of marine biodiversity, boasting more species than anywhere else on the planet. This initiative is an important symbol for South East Asia, given the man-made and natural forest fires that are notorious in .
This declaration was initiated by a partnership between the local and international NGOs, as well as local government authorities. It is also highly supported by international organizations such as the Conservation International (CI), Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). This momentous event has proven that the conservation of a local environment is not only a local issue, but also requires essential international efforts and collaboration to extend conservation action to a legislative level.
The following texts and pictures are extracted from The Coral Triangle organization website.
The Coral Triangle, where one can fine West Papua, is located in the western Pacific Ocean. It harbours more species than any other marine environment on the planet, including 76% of all coral types and more than 3000 species of fish. It encompasses an area half the size of the United States, passing through the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands & Timor L’Este. It supports the livelihoods of 120 million people, while satisfying much of the world’s appetite for seafood. It is also one of the most beautiful places on Earth. There are single reefs in this area that contain more species than the entire Caribbean.
This news article was published in The Coral Triangle website and written by Johnny Langenheim. The Coral Triangle organisation is a non-profit enterprise supported by the WWF that tells the story of this million square kilometre marine bioregion in words, pictures and video. The site features photo stories by leading photographers and upcoming talent, hard hitting features by journalists and experts in their field as well as short narrative films and beautifully shot underwater video. This online plantform will be a resource for people to get behind campaigns, find out about responsible tourism activities, source sustainable seafood, engage in dialogue and above all, help preserve this icon of the natural world by developing Marine Protected Areas, alternative economies, education programmes, and more. Hence, this organization is in line with LT&C’s vision and mission, and we are very happy to share this organization and its works in our platform.
