CTI News Watch

MANILA, PHILIPPINES --- Ministers and senior officials of Environment, Fisheries, Marine Affairs, and Science from the six countries that surround the richest marine area in the world—known as the Coral Triangle (Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste) will meet with Finance Ministers for the first time at the High-Level Financial Roundtable on 3 May 2012 in Manila to discuss sustainable financing strategies to support the future of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security.

The WorldFish Center and the ADB Knowledge Management (KM) Project for the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) convened 26 participants to a workshop aimed at improving fish catch statistics collection in the Philippines with focus on subsistence fisheries. It was held at St. Giles Hotel in Makati City on 20-21 February 2012.

The 16 participants who attended Knowledge Management (KM) Learning Exchange held in Manila agreed to form an informal COP in KM across the Coral Triangle using the Community Platform provided for free by the GEF International Waters Learning Exchange and Resource Network (GEF/IW:LEARN).

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, Jan 12 (PIA) –- Coral reef restoration project is a program of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) which started in 2005 and expected to end in 2020 aimed at rehabilitating existing ecotourism areas in the country.

In this issue of Who’s Who in the CTI, we introduce four KIs from Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, and Solomon Islands and of UniQuest’s Deputy General Manager and ask them about their perspectives on knowledge integration in the context of the CTI.

Senior Officials from Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste (CT6) approved the charter of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI-CFF) during the 7th Senior Officials Meeting (SOM7) in Jakarta, Indonesia from 24-28 October 2011.

The Regional Secretariat, WWF, and ADB's Knowledge Management project (Regional Technical Assistance 7307) launched knowledge products and resources on the CTI during the welcome dinner of the 7th Senior Officials Meeting on 27 October 2011 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Three CTI pioneers from Indonesia - Rili Djohani of the Coral Triangle Center, Matheus Eko Rudianto of the Regional Secretariat, and Ambassador-at-Large Hasjim Djalal - shared their account of the birth of the CTI during one-on-one interviews with RETA Team members. Their stories will be part of the history section of the Regional Secretariat’s second book on the CTI-CFF.

The CTI Financial Resources Working Group (FRWG) agreed to hold the first High Level Financial Roundtable (CTI HLFRT) in conjunction with ADB’s 45th Annual Meeting, planned in May 2012, at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila.

The E-FACT study was formally introduced to the CT6 countries during the "Second CTI Regional Exchange on the Implementation of EAFM Activities in the Coral Triangle Countries" in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia on 20-23 September 2011. The Regional Exchange aimed to mobilize and operationalize the CTI EAFM Technical Working Group (TWG) and develop a common regional framework for legislation and policy on EAFM.

The RETA Team is organizing a Pre-Conference Symposium to launch the State of the Coral Triangle Report (SCTR) as part of the International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) on 7 July 2012 from 1:30–5:30 pm in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.

RETA Team Leader Abbie Trinidad, Decision Support System (DSS) Specialist Perry Aliño, and Web Writer Lourdes Caballero met with the Regional Secretariat and members of the Indonesia NCC working on the country website in a series of meetings in Jakarta, Indonesia on 2-5 October 2011.

“The Seascapes Guidebook” guides CT6 marine practitioners in developing Seascape management regimes.

The Coral Triangle is a 272-page book that showcases the people, places, and marine ecosystems that make this region truly remarkable. Published by ADB and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the book documents an 18-month expedition by award-winning photographer Jürgen Freund and Stella-Chiu Freund.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Environment and fisheries ministers from six Asia Pacific countries are meeting today to advance their collective agenda for protecting and managing the fragile Coral Triangle―one of the most diverse and threatened marine ecosystems in the world. The Third Ministerial Meeting of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs Fisheries and Food Security will endorse a plan to establish a permanent secretariat for the initiative in Indonesia.

TUGUEGARAO CITY, October 20 (PIA) -- A two-day training on Coastal Resource Management participated in by the academe, local government units (LGUs), DOST, Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR), and stakeholders was conducted at the Department of Science and Technology regional office here last October 17 to 18.

Tuna handline fishers in the Philippines now have a better chance of competing in European markets through a private-public partnership between WWF, Blueyou Consultancy, European seafood companies, and the Government of Germany.

The CMWG Meeting succeeded in finding an acceptable resolution to the unresolved articles in the Agreement on the Establishment of the Regional Secretariat of the CTI-CFF and its associated Rules and Regulations.

The Sustainable Financing Workshop on Costing the Solomon Islands National Plan of Action (NPOA) was organized by Mama Graun Conservation Trust Fund in collaboration with the Solomon Islands NCC from 27-28 April 2011. It was attended by 30 participants from various government ministries, NCC representatives, and community groups.

The RETA launched a new research called the “Economics of Fisheries and Aquaculture in the CTI (E-FACT)”, which will be completed in April 2012. It will analyze the impacts of fisheries and aquaculture on marine diversity in the CT6 countries.