To Combat Illegal Fishing

Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries (MAFP), Mariano “Asanami” Sabino said MAFP had planned to create maritime authority to combat illegal fishing in the country.

Asanami said MAFP had set up a task force between the Timorese National Police (PNTL) and the Timorese Defense Force (F-FDTL) to hold operations in the Timor Sea.

“We have a policy to create maritime authority to better control illegal fishing in the Timor Sea,” Asanami said.

He added the only important way was Timor-Leste should provide proper facilities such as infrastructure for fishery area to be used for controlling illegal fishing.

SORCE: ETAN

USAID - CTSP

Here is some more information from CTSP about co-management guidelines for protected areas to make it easier to add Marine Protection Areas (MPAs) in Timor-Leste.

Smoothing the Way for More MPAs / Hadi’a dalan diak liu ba Aumenta MPA

Co-management guidelines for protected areas make it easier to add MPA s in Timor-Leste / Manuál jestaun Konjunta ba área protejida sira hodi fasil atu aumenta tan MPA iha Timor-Leste. A successful project that generates a model for replication ensures its impact long after the original project is over.

With support from USAID’s Coral Triangle Support Partnership (CTSP), Conservation International and Rai Consultadoria have created a new how-to manual on community and government cooperation in establishing co-managed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

Called “Guidelines to Co-Management,” the manual describes a clear procedure for applying the lessons learned in the development of three MPAs in Nino Konis Santana National Park (NKS). The manual includes step-by-step principles for working with the community, strengthening the community-government relationships, establishing community-based management system which are aligned with customary practices (tara bandu), and integrating resource management systems into laws.

While drawing on the marine and coastal experiences of the CTSP project it can equally be apply to terrestrial environments, and is intended as a resource for use by Timorese government and community, as well as international audiences in the countries involved in the Coral Triangle Initiative for Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security.

The government is eager to build off the success of MPAs in NKS, and the communities involved are proud to be at the forefront of conservation and resource management in their country. “What government and CTSP have achieved is far from perfect, but it works,” said Augusto Fernandes, the national director of Fisheries and Aquaculture. “It is something the Department of Fisheries has helped come up with, it is our model. We would like to replicate this approach in other priority geographies.”

His boss, Secretary of State Rafael Gonçalves, echoed this sentiment: “We need to collaborate with all shareholders to work together to enlarge our vision of expanding marine protection not just in the park but in all districts.”
DNPA officials, the NKS park manager, community leaders and local fishermen in MPA areas unanimously agree that the key to the success of this model is community engagement right from the start of the planning process, all the way through to involvement in MPA operations.

A gradual process of education, trust building, discussions and careful steps in three communities in the park led to the demarcation of MPAs and incorporation of zoning and management plans into local government regulations. The national government checked these plans for conformity to national law to ensure they are enforceable. An issue of enforcement and monitoring is now being address in ongoing talks between the interested parties.
The result is MPAs that are well plan, well managed and well enforced.

Although the kinks are still being workout in the Timor-Leste MPA experiment, the excitement and common purpose of all the players is palpable. CTSP’s support for the creation of three new MPAs has inspired other communities and government to work for more protected areas around the country. The new manual will make it easier for this to happen.

SOURCE: USAID Timor-Leste on Facebook

Coral Triangle Day 2013: Momentum Penyelamatan Ekosistem Laut

     Jakarta, June 9, 2013 (ANTARA) -- The date of June 9 has been designated as The Coral  Triangle Day as agreed in 3rd ministerial meeting of member countries of CTI (Coral Triangle Initiative) in Kuala Lumpur in 2012 ago. This proposal inititated by the Indonesian government is considered to be very strategic, because through this coral reef commemoration day, increasing the public awareness for the marine environment. The 2013 Coral Triangle Day celebration was held simultaneously in six CTI member countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste. "Today, we commemorate the Coral Triangle Day with the theme "Saving the Marine ecosystem through the Marine Coastal Clean-up Program". Through this opportunity, I would like to reaffirm our commitment to continue being active in implementing the Coral Triangle concept as well as absorbing the messages reminding us of the importance of managing the coastal and marine areas in a sustainable manner," This was conveyed by the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Sharif C. Indonesia Sutardjo, when opening the Coral Triangle Day, in Mataram Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Sunday, June 9.

     Sharif explained, The Coral Triangle Day commemoration day is conducted simultaneously in all member states CTI both before, during and after June 9. To date, more than 54 diverse activities that have been, being and will be done throughout the Coral Triangle regions to commemorate the Day. All activities reported to CTI Regional Secretariat in Jakarta, such as the talk show program in  Cebu,Philippines; beach clean-up in Minahasa, Indonesia; renewable marine energy-based symposium in Putrajaya, Malaysia; the release of turtles on Ela Beach, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; CTI gallery exhibition in Honiara, Solomon Islands; and marine biodiversity workshop in Timor Leste. The Indonesian Coral Triangle Day activities were all focused in Mataram, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, precisely on the west coast of Mataram stretching from Bintaro/Ampenan beach on the north to Loang Baloq Tanjung Karang on the south. "We chose West Nusa Tenggara as it's considered as one of the main region's tourism destinations for its natural beauty, especially its treasure of the coral reef ecosystems. Additionally, Mataram already has an integrated waste management called Waste Bank Society (BSM) Mataram," said Sharif.

     The Minister continues, the Coral Triangle (CT) region, spans nearly 6 million kilometers in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. The region has a high ecosystem biodiversity consisting of more than 500 species of coral reef, 3,000 species of fish, and an immensely vast mangrove forest. When a line is drawn spanning the region, it shows as if the region shapes a triangular-shaped, that's why it is referred to as the coral triangle region. Unfortunately, the sustainability of the ecosystem of the coral triangle region is endangered. Among them, the increasing of the anthropogenic entering the waters due to human activity. Responding these issues, the member countries located in the coral triangle region, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, as well as the United States and Australia are to formulate a new initiative of the marine resource management, namely Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF). "CTI-CFF is a multilateral partnership aiming to secure the marine and coastal resources in the Region. Among them is to establish a complete and functioning system of Marine Protected Areas in the Coral Triangle region," explained Sharif.

The Beach and Marine Clean-up Movement

     Sharif added, the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) partners with the government of West Nusa Tenggara and NGOs as well as the various elements of the communities to hold a Beach and Marine Clean-up Movement (BMCM) on Ampenan, Bintaro, and Loang Beams / Tanjung Karang Beaches. The activity aims to realize a clean and healthy coastal and marine environment to support marine biota conservation. This activity is a response to the damage and the decrease coastal and marine ecosystem diversity  caused by waste pollution. This activity is expected to arouse public awareness of the waste management importance for the sustainability of marine ecosystem. "This program is another manifestation of our commitments to rise the public awareness to be more active in coastal and marine resources conservation actions. This activity also confirmed the readiness of Indonesia to be the lead the marine conservation actions in the Coral Triangle region," underlined Sharif.

     On the same date, in Jakarta, the Ministry will organize the "Save Our Sharks" campaign to raise the shark protection issue in Indonesia. This activity invites the public to fill out an online petition, as well asand provide education on the importance of protecting sharks for the marine food source sustainability. Moreover, this kind of activity can raise public awareness more effectively and efficiently in order to preserve and conserve the fisheries and marine resources in the Coral Triangle region. Another program is the awareness raising of the disasters, coastal vegetation, and carnival mitigations involving 100 fishing boat, a range of competitions, and art parades. "The Coral Triangle commemoration day is expected to be an exceptional manifestation of us on the management of the effective, efficient and sustainable marine natural resources," said Sharif.

     In addition to launching the Coral Triangle Day, the Minister also held a series of working visits in West Nusa Tenggara province., such as the funding to various MMAF's programs in NTB province amounting Rp. 34.9 billion. Rp 8.9 billion of the funding is mainly to support the PUGAR program of Directorate General of Marine, Coastal and Small Islands in the area of East Lombok, Bima, Bima City, Sumbawa and West Lombok. The funding was also addressed to some districts / cities in West Nusa Tenggara through the Fisheries Directorate General for PUMP program, the Health Card, the Fishermen card and Inka Mina, worth Rp. 18.8 billion. Furthermore, the Directorate General of Aquaculture donated 65 aquaculture packages per group. In addition to funding assistance, the Ministry through the MMAF's HR Agency also provided education and counseling, entrepreneurial activities, seaweed management training, decorative freshwater fish training and other programs worth Rp. 2.28 billion. The Directorate General of the Fishery Products Processing and Marketing also provided the local community with marketing training, the management of the cold chain system in the fishery stations and fish processing centers.

SOURCE: Antara News         Original Version      Translated Version

Cross

Crosses are in everywhere....

Natural Resource Management

          A good deal of secrecy is still prevalent in how natural resources are managed by countries in the Asia Pacific (Apac) region, according to the Resource Governance Index released by the Revenue Watch Institute. The Index measures transparency and accountability in the oil, gas and mining industries in 58 countries worldwide, including 12 in Asia-Pacific where these industries play an important role.

         While none of the Apac dozen made it into the top “Satisfactory” segment, India, Timor-Leste and Indonesia made up the top three in the “Partial” segment. The Philippines and Mongolia were a little further back, but nonetheless showing progress toward a well-governed and accountable resource sector.
        The rest, however, were ranked as either “Weak” or – in the case of Afghanistan, Cambodia and bottom-placed Myanmar – “Failing”. In these nations, opacity, corruption and weak processes keep citizens from fully benefiting from their countries’ resource wealth, revealing a significant ‘governance deficit’.
        To determine how each country performs, the Index looks at four key areas of transparency and accountability:

• Institutional and Legal Setting: the degree to which laws, regulations and institutional arrangements facilitate transparency, accountability and open, fair competition.
• Reporting Practices: government disclosure of information.
• Safeguards and Quality Controls: the presence and quality of checks and oversight mechanisms that encourage integrity and guard against conflicts of interest.
• Enabling Environment: the broader governance environment, based on more than 30 external measures of accountability, government effectiveness, rule of law, corruption and democracy.

          While no country in the region received an overall satisfactory rating, the three leaders were all given satisfactory ratings in two of the four Index components.
          India, which made the list because of its significant petroleum reserves, earned an overall score of 70 with a satisfactory rating (above 70) for reporting practices thanks to its freedom of information law, and was also deemed to have satisfactory safeguards and quality controls.
          Timor-Leste, the baby of the bunch and one of the world’s newest countries, scored 68 overall but shone in reporting practices with a very credible score of 82 since it is the only country in the region to publish contracts with companies, though these disclosures are not routine. It also does well in terms of its institutional and legal setting. Neighboring Indonesia was also given a satisfactory score on this count, together with its safeguards and quality control, giving it a composite score of 66.
         Behind the Apac top three the Philippines makes the top half of the index with an overall score of 54, being relatively strong (Partial) in terms of it institutional and legal setting and also its reporting practices. Mongolia’s standout was for its institutional and legal setting which, at 80, is satisfactory but was deemed to be weak by other measures, resulting in an overall score or 51.
While Mongolia, together with Timor Leste and Indonesia can boast comprehensive oil, gas and mining legislation, including an independent licensing process and clear frameworks for resource revenue collection, the same cannot be said of Apac’s bottom seven.
       With the exception of Malaysia (46), regulating authorities do not publish environmental impact assessments or consult with communities prior to awarding extractive rights, giving a passable 60 for its enabling environment. While information on exploration and production is generally available, China (43), Papua New Guinea (43), Vietnam (41), Afghanistan (33), Cambodia (29) and Myanmar (4) publish very little information on resource revenues.
        It is worth noting that while Afghanistan was judged to be failing, it did receive a decent score of 63 on its institutional and legal setting, reflecting a growing body of law to govern its mining industry, which is expected to grow considerably.
       If Apac countries want to do better in terms of natural resource governance they should look to Norway as an example. The Scandinavian country topped the Resource Governance Index with a composite score of 98 and received the only perfect score (100) of any country in any aspect for its institutional and legal setting.

SOURCE: Eco-Business

Managing Natural Resources Revenues

Alastair McKechnie

This note describes the Timor-Leste Petroleum Fund and issues that have arisen in its implementation. This petroleum fund (PF) is considered by commentators and international financial institutions to be a good example of a sovereign wealth fund to manage petroleum resources in a fragile or post-conflict setting.

The note contains analysis intended to brief governments in similar settings looking at how to manage revenues from natural resources such as petroleum, minerals, hydroelectricity and forests. Such resources are depletable in the sense that they cannot be easily replaced, or alternatively face a rising cost curve so that developing the current project means its successors will produce more expensive unit output, for example in the case of large-scale hydroelectricity.

Exploiting these resources is equivalent to exporting the national wealth – ‘selling the family silver’ – which can either be consumed, for example in expanding civil service employment, or transformed into other assets that generate a stream of income for current and future generations.

An output of the following project:

Budget Strengthening Initiative

Programme: Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure

Full Report Here

Ilegal Fishing Patrol

Marine Police doing patrol in northern coast to prevent illegal fishing

 The Timorese National Police (PNTL)‚s Marine Police Unit is currently doing patrol in the northern coast of Timor-Leste to prevent illegal fishing and illegal transitions in the country‚s sea.

The Marine Police are on board the ship called Lusitania, doing patrol in the northern coast of Oe-cusse, Batugede, Dili and Manatuto.

"In our operations we cover the northern coast of the country, but it also depends on the weather. We should have a proper plan before doing patrol, so that we can achieve our objectives" he said.

An Indonesian technician who is currently helping the Marine Police said it was necessary for the Government to provide enough food for the police officers as they had been facing logistic shortcomings.

SOURCE: ETAN