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Rili Djohani is director of The Nature Conservancy’s Indonesian Program. She has worked with the program for more than twelve years, and has served as the country director for the past four years. Djohani holds a dregree in tropic marine ecology (MSc) from the University of Leiden, the Netherlands.  Get Involved You can learn more and explore new places when you join the Conservancy's online community and build your own personalized nature page. Why is The Nature Conservancy involved? Climate change is the greatest threat to nature.  We all rely on nature for survival and now nature is relying on us. As one of the world’s largest environmental organizations, we are compelled to work on the world’s largest environmental challenge. A strong, comprehensive international climate change agreement is the most powerful way we can reduce the impacts of climate change on people, plants and animals. For more than a decade, the Conservancy has been confronting the nexus between climate change and nature, putting into practice — in six countries, on over 1.5 million acres — nature-based strategies to both reduce emissions and adapt to an already changing world. The Coral Triangle   Click here to download the new Global Centre of Coral Diversity Map, which provides the most up to date information on patterns of coral diversity around the world.  It clearly delineates the Coral Triangle, which is a global priority for marine conservation.  The map provides the scientific blueprint for conservation efforts in the Coral Triangle.  The underlaying data can also be used to identify priority conservation sites, based on biodiversity and endemic species. Breaking from Bali In Bali, New Incentive for Developing Nations to Curb Emissions The Christian Science Monitor discusses the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility with The Conservancy’s Andrew Deutz. The Nature Conservancy Pledges $5 Million to Tackle Emissions from Deforestation World Bank-led Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) will Demonstrate New Incentives for Reducing Deforestation and Forest Degradation. Animals, Plants Need Help Adapting to Climate Change Reuters talks to the Conservancy’s Stephanie Meeks and Rod Salm about efforts to help animals and humans adapt to climate change. Palau, GEF, and NGOs Issue Report on Island Nations Facing Climate Change "Micronesia Challenge" is key to conservation efforts. The Nature Conservancy Acts on Indonesia’s Call to Save Orangutans and Address Climate Change. The Nature Conservancy pledges $1 Million for strategy and action plan for the national conservation of orangutans. Major Steps Taken to Protect Coral Triangle The region is critical to the livelihoods of more than 120 million people. Indonesia vows to protect endangered orangutans. Reuters talk's with the Conservancy's Erik Meijaard about Indonesia's pledge to save orangutans and forests Trees Are at Heart of Talks on Climate The Washington Post talks with the Conservancy’s Duncan Marsh about efforts in Bali to strike a deal that would slow the destruction of tropical forests. Scrambling to Save Coral’s “Homeland” The Associated Press talks with the Conservancy’s Annisah Supal about the Coral Triangle Initiative and efforts to establish climate change resilient marine protected areas in the coral triangle.  Indonesia's Corals Threatened by Climate Change Reuters discusses the coral triangle with Abdul Halim, policy manager for The Nature Conservancy's Coral Triangle Center. Electricity Revives Bali Coral Reefs The Associated Press reports on Conservancy coral specialist Rod Salm about bleaching in the coral triangle.   Can We Save the World by 2015? Time magazine talks to Andrew Deutz about the climate change conference. Climate Meeting Preview: The Conservancy's Roberto Troya previews the conference for The World. Climate Change: What We Support Find out how the Conservancy is working with all levels of government — from state and regional initiatives , to U.S. federal policy, to international treaties  — to address the impacts of climate change. Our key policy areas include: Reducing emissions from all sectors Forest carbon Supporting adaptation for nature and people

December 7, 2007 -- This week, international leaders took an important step toward protecting the world's coral reefs from the impacts of climate change, overfishing and coastal development.

Senior officials from six Pacific Island nations have come together to safeguard the marine and coastal habitats of the Coral Triangle, considered to be the planet's epicenter of marine biodiversity. 

Covering nearly six million square kilometers, these rich seas are home to:

• 76 percent of the world’s coral species;
• 50 percent of its reef fish species; and
• A diversity of larger marine life including whales, orcas, dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, and manta rays.

A Wealth of Resources

More than just stunning coral gardens, the Coral Triangle also provides resources for almost 126 million people who depend directly on the reef systems for food, jobs, tourism and coastal protection.

The total annual economic value of the reefs is $2.3 billion and this value is unparalleled. For example, it would cost an estimated $250,000 to $15 million per kilometer of coast to replace the Coral Triangle's reefs and mangrove forests with man-made coastal defenses.

Coral reefs, such as those in the Coral Triangle, are critical to the well-being of people and nature. Yet they are some of the most endangered ecosystems on Earth. Around the world, coral reefs are being degraded by:

• Warming water temperatures and increasing ocean acidity caused by climate change;
• Overfishing;
• Destructive fishing; and
• Coastal development.

While some reefs are proving resilient to global warming, few can survive against these destructive human-caused threats.

Hope Through Resilience

But in the Coral Triangle, some reefs have demonstrated resilience to climate change—and that is cause for optimism.

So the Nature Conservancy is working with partners to establish and maintain marine protected areas to ensure the survival of these important natural systems. Resilient MPA networks in the Coral Triangle can serve as “global refuges” that can help replenish degraded reefs in the surrounding parts of Indonesia and neighboring countries.

Vigorous ocean currents in this area can help seed damaged reefs with healthy and resilient coral larvae and increase the chances of reef survival against the deadly impacts of climate change. Strengthening the resilience of natural systems — through efforts such as this — is also an important and cost-effective solution for people and societies beginning to plan for a future with climate change.

Nature-based adaptation strategies strengthen the ability of communities to deal with climate change impacts. For example, establishing networks of MPAs to protect coral reefs can help coastal communities survive through more intense storms and wave surges, while ensuring critical habitat for fish and other marine life.

Our Coral Triangle Center in Bali serves as a center of excellence for marine conservation as well as for the establishment of the MPA networks which, in Indonesia, include Komodo, Berau, Wakatobi, and Raja Ampat.

Protecting Coral Reefs for Future Generations

Governments convening this week in Bali under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will be addressing adaptation as a component of international agreements on climate change.

Also this week, senior government officials of the six nations represented in the Coral Triangle will hold the first formal planning meeting of the Coral Triangle Initiative — a new multilateral effort designed to help safeguard the region’s marine and coastal biological resources for the sustainable growth and prosperity of current and future generations. 

Addressing the climate change linkages to the marine resources of the Coral Triangle is likely to become a major element of the Coral Triangle Initiative. The outcomes of this meeting could lay the foundation for protecting the Coral Triangle — and reduce the impacts of climate change on many of us who live within its boundaries.

Such action in the Coral Triangle would be an important start, and could demonstrate that international efforts for adaptation must focus on more than just building infrastructure to address climate change.

Infrastructure changes — such as seawalls or dykes that buffer storms — can be necessary in some instances, but can also:

• Be extremely costly;
• Fail under the extreme impacts of climate change, and
• Unintentionally put communities at risk by undermining the services that nature provides.

Maintaining healthy wetlands and mangroves may be more economically and environmentally effective  to provide both buffers to storm surges and nurseries for important fisheries.

Protecting and maintaining the health of the natural world will help

• Reduce the negative impacts of climate change on human communities;
• Strengthen food security, and
• Support sustainable development efforts.

As discussions proceed in Bali, one choice is clear: Nature-based adaptation strategies should be an integral part of climate change adaptation and development assistance, and a key component of a comprehensive international framework on climate change.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo ©Christopher Crowley (coral in Indonesia); Map © Coral Geographic, Charlie Veron, Lyndon DeVantier and Emre Turak Stuart Kininmonth Coral Geographi(coral triangle).