Nuansa Pulau Community Group (Kelompok Nuansa Pulau/KNP) is a local environmental awareness community actively involved in coral restoration in Ped Village, Nusa Penida. Nuansa Pulau Community Group is in partnership with CTC throughout the year in establishing educational tools for local youths to understand coral reef ecosystems through a hands-on coral restoration program. The Coral Reef Restoration Task Force visited the group on December 2-7, 2021.

Ten members of this group were given training in the MARRS method by Pariama Hutasoit, the executive director of Nusa Dua Reef Foundation (NDRF), emphasizing basic coral biology and morphology, as well as monitoring SOP and methodology. The group experienced hands-on practice in Reef Star production, starting from sand filtering until the end of the coating process. The Task Force also assisted in selecting and assessing suitable sites to expand their current restoration project. Approaching the end of year seems to fuel the will to learn!

The knowledge was immediately applied during the CTC Staff Learning Trip on December 17, 2021. The full team of CTC staff received an overview of key principles in coral restoration and the MARRS method from the Task Force. Afterwards, they got to experience the process of Adopt-a-Coral by directly tying on coral fragments onto Reef Star structures. The youths of Nuansa Pulau community group guided the participants and ensured that all coral fragments were securely tied. These activities are aligned with the ADB’s COREMAP-CTI grant package 4 on coral restoration in Nusa Penida that will be led by CTC in 2022.

Through these activities and other engagements in this collaboration, both parties have been learning new, valuable knowledge and decided to strengthen their collaboration in the upcoming year by signing an agreement. CTC Executive Director, Rili Djohani, signed the agreement together with the Head of KNP, I Nyoman Karyawan. Just like KNP always say when they cheer: “I am the best, you are the best, we are the best!” We hope that this partnership will continue to blossom, especially in building coral reef resilience and restoration network for Indonesia and the Coral Triangle.

Photos by Eureka Amadea/CTC & Wira Sanjaya/CTC