Supporting the Coral Triangle Initiative

The Coral Triangle covers the exclusive economic zones of Indonesia, East Timor, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. It is the epicenter of marine life abundance and diversity. Its biological resources sustain the lives of more than 120 million people.

This “Amazon of the Sea,” however, is at risk. Coastal development, illegal and unregulated fishing, unsuitable tourism, land-based sources of pollution, and global warming are taking a toll and might cause the collapse of fisheries and habitats in the Coral Triangle. Stronger political will, commitment of a wide range of stakeholders, and concerted action among countries within the Coral Triangle are needed to conserve marine biodiversity, stop habitat destruction, and manage marine resources.

In mid-2007 Indonesian President Yudhoyono and five other country leaders launched the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) in an effort to conserve the Coral Triangle. The federal government pledged $41 million to support CTI activities over 5 years through the U.S. CTI Support Program (USCTI). The team consists of various U.S. agencies and organizations such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of State, and a consortium of nongovernmental organizations.

Approach

Tetra Tech serves as the USCTI program integrator (PI), under management of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Regional Development Mission for Asia. In this capacity, Tetra Tech facilitates a unified federal government program and provides technical support to meet CTI goals at the regional level. The USCTI Support Program focuses on improving the management of marine protected areas, advancing the application of an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management, and achieving climate change adaptation measures.

Tetra Tech is providing leadership to strengthen regional collaboration and capacity for integrated marine and coastal management, with a focus on the USCTI goals.

This includes:

  • Developing regional learning networks that strengthen the ability of organizations in the region to regularly share knowledge and apply lessons learned in the USCTI thematic areas
  • Supporting these organizations to realize local-level improvements in coastal and fisheries resources management that are catalyzed through regional learning
  • Facilitating the establishment of public-private sector strategies to build constituencies
  • Strengthening regional policies through senior-level dialogues

Accomplishments

Below are some of the key results.

Systems Developed and Implemented to Enhance Coordination and Information Sharing. The PI developed and is maintaining the CTI Partner Web Portal, which provides online access to CTI information resources, planning and coordination tools, document libraries, project databases, technical workspaces, and GIS-based project mapping, among other capacities (linked to the initiative’s website at www.uscti.org). The PI also facilitated development of a unified results framework for the entire USCTI program in coordination with the federal government and nongovernmental organization partners, and is supporting a living, online CTI project map.

Programmatic Support to the CTI Summit in Manadao, Indonesia. The PI helped to coordinate federal government participation in the seminal CTI Summit, which launched the CTI. Leaders of the six Coral Triangle countries attended. The PI also provided communications and outreach support to the federal government for the summit.

Regional Exchanges to Strengthen Capacity of CT Institutions. In collaboration with the Philippines National Coordinating Committee, the PI conducted a regional exchange program with CT6 country participants at the Second Conference of Coastal Municipalities in Cebu, Philippines, to learn about and strengthen local government capacity for ecosystem approaches to fisheries management and marine protected areas.