ABOUT TIME TO INVEST IN "BLUE ECONOMY" by Fardah

   Jakarta, Dec 10, 2012 (ANTARA) - As the world's largest archipelagic nation with around 17,500 islands and 95,200 km coastline - the second longest after that of Canada - Indonesia has huge marine resources potentials.

         Last year, coastal and ocean economic sectors including capture fisheries, aquaculture, energy and mineral resources, marine tourism, sea transportation, and maritime industries and services contributed about 30 percent to Indonesia's GDP and employed more than 20 million people, according to former maritime affairs and fisheries minister Rokhmin Dahuri.

         In his article entitled "Blue Economy for Sustainable Coastal and Ocean Development", Dahuri defines Blue Economy as "an economic model that employs green infrastructures, technologies and practices, innovative and inclusive financing mechanisms, and proactive institutional arrangements for meeting the twin goals of protecting coasts and oceans, and at the same time enhancing its potential contribution to sustainable development, including improving human well-being and reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities."
   And in the International Expo 2012 Yeosu  in South Korea, last July 2012, that highlighted the issue of "The Future of the Ocean Economy", it was stated that Blue Economy refers to "The new system of ocean-based Green Economy that interweaves creative neo-science and technologies with the ocean."
   In short, however, some people define Blue Economy as the sustainable management, development or use of marine resources.

         Indonesia's Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sharif C. Sutardjo recently announced that the country will begin to implement a blue economy paradigm in several parts of the country beginning 2013 as a strategic step to speed up the development of the marine and fishery industry.

        "The ministry in cooperation with director of Blue Economy Holding KK Gunter Pauli will implement a pilot project of blue economy in several areas in the western and eastern parts of Indonesia next year," he said.

        By implementing the Blue Economy concept in Indonesia, business opportunities worth US$1.2 trillion can be generated, he stated in a seminar on "The Opportunities and Challenges of Implementing the Blue Economy Concept", at the University of Airlangga, Surabaya, on December 6, 2012.

        His ministry has proposed the inclusion of blue economy in the medium-term development plan 2013-2025 in the maritime and fishery sector, and is currently preparing a roadmap for the implementation of the Blue Economy concept to promote sustainable marine management.

        In the roadmap 2013-2025, the ministry is planning to develop the `zero waste' concept in Western and Eastern Indonesia.

          "In Indonesia, two factories in Central Java and North Sumatra are currently applying the concept," he said.

        Seaweed and animal waste, for instance, will be mixed to make compost fertilizer, he said.  
   He believed the concept should be implemented for the welfare of the people. "By implementing the Blue Economy concept, job opportunities can be generated and the value of products and services can be increased," said the minister.

         Three quarters of Indonesia's territories are seas, and 8 percent of the nation's land area includes lakes, dams, rivers and swamps.

        Approximately 70 percent of 60 oil and gas basins in Indonesia's waters are estimated to have oil reserves that add up to 9.1 billion barrels. About 80 percent of the industries and 59 percent of the cities in Indonesia are located in the coastal areas.

          Since the establishment of the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, the country's fish production increased significantly from 3.9 million tons in 1999, to 6 million tons in 2004, and 13.4 million tons in 2011.

          Around 6.5 million tonnes of fish are caught in the Indonesian waters every year, and more than 12 million hectares of Indonesia's waters are used for aquaculture activities.

            According to  Rokhmin Dahuri, however, Indonesia has so far exploited only 20 percent of its fisheries potential.

        "In 2011, Indonesia's fish production potential was about 65 million tons, but we produced only 13.4 million tons, or 20.7 percent," he said during a seminar on "Agribusiness Outlook 2013" in Jakarta, on December 5, 2012.    
    There are huge business opportunities in the fisheries and maritime sectors. The country can produce a lot of fish through aquaculture as well as mariculture, Dahuri stated.  In fact, Indonesia has the potential to become a global food barn.    
    "With the help of biotechnology and aquaculture, we can not only produce more fish and seafood, but also algae and other foods," he continued.

          Gellwynn Jusuf, the secretary general of the maritime affairs and fisheries ministry, when attending the Fourth Coral Triangle Initiative - Coral Reefs Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF) Ministerial Meeting (MM4) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last November, said Indonesia committed to adopt the Blue Economy concept in managing the maritime and coastal resources in a sustainable manner by ensuring there is a balance between economic development and the environmental threshold.

          The Blue Economy concept also aims to preserve the biodiversity in the Coral Triangle region, he stated, adding that the CTI-CFF principles also complement the Blue Economy concept by emphasizing biodiversity conservation.      
    Indonesia aims to increase the coverage of maritime conservation area to 20 million hectares by 2020, according to him.

         Given the importance of the implementation of the Blue Economy concept,  Minister Sutardjo is keen on incorporating the concept into education and training.

        "The sustainable development element of the Blue Economy paradigm should be included in the development of human resources and in the development of the marine industry," he said.

          Through education, sustainable marine and fishery development can be achieved, according to the minister.

         He hopes that by educating the public on the Blue Economy concept, the younger generation will be capable of developing environmentally-friendly technologies.

         Universities will play an important role in the implementation of the Blue Economy concept, since it requires the support of cutting-edge technologies, he added. ***2***
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