Coral Triangle

In May 2009, the six Coral Triangle Governments (Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, and Timor Leste) launched a Regional Plan of Action for the next decade adopted at the World Ocean Conference in Manado, Indonesia.

This is the most detailed plan for ocean conservation ever seen and the fruit of an ambitious partnership—the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security founded in December 2007 in Bali.

As a result, the first of WWF’s Coral Triangle Program policy objectives has already been met—agreement at the highest levels by the governments of the Coral Triangle region to a partnership to sustainably manage their national and shared marine natural resources.

Next Steps

The Plan of Action is just a first step in an intensive process of dialogue, consultation, planning, partnership building and implementation. WWF is focused on:

• Implementation of the Regional Plan of Action through innovative public private partnerships and investment that secure the future of the Coral Triangle and its wealth of marine resources
  
  
• Creating and supporting the appropriate governance mechanisms for collaboration among CTI governments and stakeholders

Measuring Success

WWF researchers studying map Coral reef monitoring Sulu sea Philippines
© Jürgen Freund / WWF-Canon

To succeed, the Coral Triangle Initiative not only needs unprecedented collaboration among the six national governments, but also to engage many stakeholders within and outside the region in an effort that recognizes:

• A coastal population base of more than 120 million people and hundreds of political jurisdictions and entities within the Coral Triangle
  
  
• Millions of consumers outside the Coral Triangle
  
  
• Potentially hundreds of NGOs and scores of major donors
  
  
• Large industries such as fisheries and tourism

Our work in the Coral Triangle is a collaborative effort. WWF’s partners range from the communities and NGOs at our field sites to major multilateral agencies such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), governments and businesses, which are helping us to conserve the marine treasures and resources of the Coral Triangle.