To support its plan to declare 32.5 million hectares of effectively managed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by 2030, the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) is collaborating with partners to develop an MPA Vision 2030 and MPA Roadmap to ensure that it reaches its goal in 10 years.  WWF and CTC supported MMAF in the facilitation of this 10-year MPA vision and roadmap with 30 ++ workshops and meetings in person and on line engaging more than 1400 people from inter-departmental agencies at the national and provincial level, and NGOs.

According to the MMAF, as of March 2020, 23.34 million hectares of MPAs or 71.8% of the target has already been achieved, and 9.16 million hectares or 28.2% is targeted to be completed by 2030. To date, 9.894 million hectares or 30.72% of the current area of MPAs are operated for sustainable fisheries, tourism, and other functions.   While the rest have not been functioned properly for sustainable operations.

In the online discussion “Bisik-Bisik PRL MPA Vision 2030” held on July 21 and organized by the MMAF Directorate General of Marine Management Area, CTC Executive Director Rili Djohani stated that effective MPA management will make a profound contribution for millions of people as many lives depend on marine areas for food security, income, coastal protection, and recreation.

The MMAF is expected to implement the MPA Vision 2030 and the MPA Roadmap document, which is being developed in collaboration non-governmental organizations such as CTC and WWF, supported by WCS, CI, Rare and TNC.

Ms. Djohani said this is crucial to ensure the collective effort done by government and non-governmental organizations in establishing MPAs is successful so that Indonesia will be able to protect its coastal and marine ecosystems effectively and contribute to global goals to protect the 30% of the world’s oceans. In the next 10 years, overfishing, pollution, and climate change will significantly threaten the lives of millions of people. “Millions of people depend on coastal and marine resources for their livelihood”, Ms. Djohani stated.

MMAF Director General of Marine Management Area Aryo Hanggono said seven work areas of MPA management have been identified, focused on integrating planning and sustainable financing. The MMAF is required to take a bigger part in spatial planning to achieve  the MPA effectiveness goal with the support of government and non-government financing mechanisms. “The local governments also play a significant role to achieve the MPA target”, Mr. Hanggono added.