A CORAL transplantation project at the Nusa Dua beach in Bali, Indonesia was recently carried out by Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and several foreign ambassadors.
Antara News agency reported that during the event, Pandjaitan also promoted the government's National Economic Recovery (PEN) programme, which includes labour-intensive coral reef restoration activities.
"The coral reef restoration programme, apart from bringing positive benefits to the environment, has also provided benefits to Balinese people who have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, especially those living in coastal areas," he said in a statement recently.
Among those who accompanied him were his deputy for maritime resources coordination Safri Burhanuddin, Bali Governor Wayan Koster, the Canadian Ambassador to Indonesia, the Italian Ambassador, the Swiss Ambassador, the Japanese Ambassador, the Dutch Deputy Ambassador, and the Russian Deputy Ambassador.
The labour-intensive coral reef restoration programme has been able to provide jobs to more than 10,171 people affected by Covid-19, especially those previously attached to the tourism and marine sectors, the minister said.
"This programme ran for four months from Oct 2020 to Jan 2021, funded by a State Budget (APBN) of 111.2 billion rupiah, and the area to be restored has reached 74.3 hectares," he said.
Coral reefs are not just beautiful, but also crucial for maintaining the food supply of millions of people living along the coasts all over the world, the minister said.
The coral reef restoration programme is slated to continue this year in three Super Priority Tourist Destinations (DPSP) and six Marine Tourism and Marine Conservation destinations.
Indonesia has a vast variety of coral reefs which spread over an area of 25,000 square kilometres or around 10 percent of the world's coral reefs.
The country has the highest number of coral reef species in the world, namely 569 out of the 845 coral reef species found globally.
Biologically diverse coral reefs are also important for protecting the shoreline of the country's low-lying islands, he added.