Goal 1. Develop local and regional capacity to better care for our marine resources

Goal 1. Develop local and regional capacity to better care for our marine resourcesThe Coral Triangle Center will inspire leaders and communities throughout the Coral Triangle with excellent training programs designed to strengthen their professional competence and institutional capacity to effectively care for marine resources and coastal ecosystems. 

The Coral Triangle Center has over ten years of proven experience, gained as a program of The Nature Conservancy from 2000 to 2010.  During this decade, we conducted and facilitated over 100 training sessions for over 2000 regional practitioners, hosted numerous international exchanges, and promoted policy dialogues for decision-makers involved in sustainably managing the region’s marine resources.  The Center played a large role in facilitating the delineation of the Coral Triangle by hosting a workshop with global experts in 2003, and helping to facilitate the road map leading up to the Coral Triangle Summit and the Coral Triangle Initiative regional plan of action.

With the launch the Coral Triangle Center as an independent regional organization in 2010, the wealth of this experience has been retained.  Long-term staff has transitioned to the new institution, the suite of ten highly used and regionally-adapted training modules remain as the foundation of our intellectual training capital, and our direct field work in marine sites such as Nusa Penida allows us to continue harvesting important lessons and documenting effective practices.  Building on this experience, we deliver customized practical training and on-site skill applications to foment the passion and competence needed for practitioners to make an appreciable difference in marine area management. 

School for Marine Protected Area Management

From 2011 through 2013 we will catalyze the establishment of the School for Marine Protected Area Management in Indonesia with the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. 

The Ministry is partnering with the Coral Triangle Center to build the skills and capacity of government employees tasked with marine resource management.  The Coral Triangle Center is helping: design the curricula; identify resource experts and trainers; establish metrics and requirements for certification; and ensure practical field experience for all students.  Graduates of the School will staff Marine Protected Areas, write policy on the future of fisheries in Indonesia, and be the architects of marine resource use across the Indonesian archipelago.

Costumized Training Modules

• Train over 500 regional practitioners with Coral Triangle Center training modules and materials in marine resource management.
• Train 150 Indonesian participants from diverse geographies and institutional settings in the first five Coral Triangle Center training modules (see box);
• Provide training of trainers in Coral Triangle countries. Initial requests include training of trainers in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in Tropical Resources Management, Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM), Spatial Marine Planning and Management Effectiveness, and Community-Based Marine Resource Management.  Fifty trainers from key learning institutes and organizations in Melanesia have been identified for training.
• Continue to adapt the training modules for different regional settings and target groups, adding new modules, such as #11 (see box), in response to field needs.
• Establish MOUs with at least 5 local universities in the CT6 countries and 5 international universities to develop, innovate and implement training curricula.