Coral Triangle Day: Fostering a Sense of Community and Camaraderie in Sustaining the World’s Epicenter of Marine Biodiversity
By: Sudirman Saad, Chairman, CTI-CFF Interim Regional Secretariat

On June 9, 2013, an estimated 10,000 people from all walks of life gathered in more than 50 locations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste to celebrate Coral Triangle Day.

Dili, Timor-Leste – More than 30 representatives from the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste - gathered in Dili on May 29-31, 2013 to launch a new guidebook that will help coastal communities in the region adapt to the growing threats of climate change.

Representatives of the six member countries of the Coral Triangle Initiative—Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste—met on April 10-12, 2013, in Manila, Philippines, to develop and refine a regional process for monitoring and evaluating the initiative’s progress towards achieving the goals under its Regional Plan of Action. The plan of action contains climate change and marine resource sustainability activities and is being implemented from 2009 to 2020.

The CTI-CFF held its first Seascape Working Group Meeting in Sanur, Indonesia, on April 16-17, 2013, to develop a roadmap of activities and review existing seascape and other large-scale marine planning work underway in the Coral Triangle. During the meeting, working group members from Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste committed to move forward in implementing their respective programs in support of the CTI Regional Plan of Action Goal to ensure that priority seascapes are designated and effectively managed.

On March 26, 2013, the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) launched an online platform to match climate change adaptation projects needing support in the six CTI member countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste—with investors and funding organizations.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) held its Coral Triangle Pacific annual implementation review workshop in Manila on April 23-26, 2013, to examine the progress of its technical assistance to the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI-CFF) member countries located in the Pacific – Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste. The technical assistance is one of the three ADB regional technical assistance projects in support of the CTI-CFF.

An online tool that provides a visual overview of all Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI-CFF) related projects in the region was presented to CTI-CFF government representatives and development partners at a workshop on April 10-11, 2013, in Jakarta, Indonesia.