Starting this new year of 2021, the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) of the Republic of Indonesia, in collaboration with CTC, published the document “Needs Assessment and Roadmap for the Marine Protected Areas, Coastal, and Small Islands (KKP3K) Managers Capacity-building in Indonesia 2020-2024”. (Coral Triangle Center, 2020) The document identifies appropriate strategies and solutions to meet the need for human resources to manage Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Indonesia for the next five years.

Indonesia has targeted the establishment of 32.5 million hectares of MPAs by 2030, of which 20 million hectares are targeted to be managed effectively. However, this is predictably not an easy task. The insufficient amount of competent field staff and poor management activities may result in the ineffective MPAs. The Government of Indonesia, however, has developed an evaluation mechanism – or EKKP3K (recently changed into EVIKA) – which specifically mentions the number of basic trainings and competencies needed by MPA staff.

Through the identification of staff qualification mapping and competencies needed at every level of MPA management, including strategic partners to support the government, the road map document is expected to address human resources gaps. The draft of the document had been discussed intensively by the Directorate of Marine Biodiversity and Conservation of MMAF and CTC, and consultation has been held with related governmental agencies, academics, environmental activists, and other key stakeholders.

In general, the preliminary assessment results revealed that each MPA personnel needs to possess 20 kinds of competency. However, the qualification will be narrowed into certain specific competencies, depending on the position and responsibilities. Ideally, Indonesia will require at least 720 competent staff or 20 personnel for each management unit. Currently, there are 36 prioritized MPAs in Indonesia of which 10 are nationally managed and 26 are provincially managed.

Moreover, the roadmap for MPA personnel capacity building of 2020-2024 covers five milestones including the achievement of minimum and medium conditions through training and/or competency assessment, the availability of modules and competency-based curricula, the establishment of competence standards, the preparation of a national training and education scheme for MPA personnel, and the institutionalization of MPA personnel training into the Center of Fisheries Training and Education (BP3). In order to achieve these milestones, CTC and 11 other key partners have committed to implement the roadmap by facilitating training, conducting competency assessments, and organizing a combination of training and competency assessments at once.

The budget for implementing a series of capacity-building commitments will be sourced from the national budget (APBN) or grants (including for the competence certification by the National Professional Certification Authority (PSKK BNSP) and COREMAP Coral Triangle Initiative). Moreover, the Indonesian Ministry of Finance, together with the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, local provincial governments and other regional administrations and governmental institutions have also pledged to support the MPA capacity-building roadmap for the next five years.

The roadmap can be downloaded from this link.

Photo by: Agustin Capriati