01 Dec Coral Triangle Countries Endorse New Regional Plan of Action and Acknowledge CTC’s Role in Highlighting the Initiative Internationally

On November 29, 2022, the six member countries of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF) held its 8th Ministerial Meeting and endorsed its new Regional Plan of Action 2.0 (RPOA 2.0). CTC as an official development partner of the regional government initiative, welcomes and applauds this milestone. 

The new RPOA 2.0 replaces the previous action plan, implemented from 2010 to 2020. Under the new CTI-CFF RPOA 2.0, the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste, agreed to continuously work together towards institutional and human capacity building, foster collaborative partnership with international and regional institutions, and explore sustainable finance mechanism to support the CTI-CFF towards sustainable management of ocean life. 

Amongst the key objectives of the CTI-CFF RPOA 2.0 is to ensure that by 2030 the health of coastal and marine ecosystems, priority threatened species and fisheries in the Coral Triangle region are improved through effective management actions. It also aims that by 2030, the risk resilience and socioeconomic conditions, in particular food security and coastal livelihoods, of communities living in the Coral Triangle region will be  improved.

The 8th CTI-CFF Ministerial Meeting was held online and was chaired by H.E. Honorable Nestor Giro, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources of the Solomon Islands as Chair of the Council of Ministers of CTI-CFF and co-chaired by HE. Pedro dos Reis, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.

Representing other governments were Mr. Victor Gustaaf Manoppo from the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of Indonesia; Mme. Noor Afifah Abdul Razak representing the Ministry of Environment and Water of Malaysia; Mme. Yvonne Tio representing the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Climate Change of Papua New Guinea, and Undersecretary Jonas R. Leones of Policy, Planning and International Affairs of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines. Also in attendance were Dr. Mohd. Kushairi Rajuddin, the Executive Director of the CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat. 

The meeting also witnessed the handover of the leadership of the CTI-CFF Council of Ministers from the Government of Solomon Islands, who held the position from 2019 to 2022, to the Government of Timor-Leste, who will be chairing for the period of 2023 to 2024. The Government of Indonesia also took the role of Vice Chair for the 2023-2024 period, following Timor-Leste’s term. The leadership of the CTI-CFF rotates every two years amongst member countries following an alphabetical order. 

“Timor-Leste thanked the member countries for entrusting TL with the responsibility. Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, conveyed our commitment to work with CTI and developing partners to achieve the targets, we must focus on development actions in response to the five goals of the CTI-CFF,” said HE. Pedro dos Reis in his remarks. The leadership of the CTI-CFF rotates every two years amongst member countries following an alphabetical order.

Prior to the Ministerial Meeting, the 17th CTI-CFF Senior Officials Meeting and Pre-SOM meeting were also held online from November 22-25, 20222. CTC participated in both meetings in its capacity as official development partner and as Co-Chair of the CTI-CFF Women Leaders Forum (WLF)

In the Chairs’ Summary, the CTI-CFF Senior Officials acknowledged and appreciated the contribution of CTC and partners in moving forward with the effort to develop a regional capacity building roadmap to support effective marine protected area management in the Coral Triangle.  

The CTI-CFF Senior Officials also acknowledged the achievements of the WLF in the last year, CTC’s support in highlighting the forum in international conferences, and the efforts of CTC, WWF, and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in highlighting the contribution of women leaders in the Coral Triangle through online outreach webinars. 

The series of CTI-CFF high-level meetings reaffirms the commitment and support of the governments and partners of the CT6 member countries to the initiative acknowledging the continuing need for collective, coordinated and multilateral action to address the challenges on ocean governance and threats to marine conservation.

Text: Leilani Gallardo and CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat

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