Yayasan Karang Lestari
(Pemuteran Bay Protected Coral Association)
AWARDED
2012 Equator Prize: The UNDP Equator Award for Community Based Development
Special Recognition: The United Nations Development Program Special Award for Marine and Coastal Zone Management
At the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development during the Equator Prize Award Ceremony in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012.Â
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Brief Summary
Bali lies in the Coral Triangle, the most bio diverse region of the world’s ocean. Bali is a small island with an ancient and deeply traditional culture, where village law is predominant. The fishing village of Pemuteran set up its own Pecalang Laut, or Sea Guardians, to enforce village laws preserving coral reefs and fisheries resources from destructive over-exploitation. On their own they set up a village-run marine protected area. The fisheries were in collapse at the time the project started. Maintenance and management is done by local trained staff, who are the world’s first professional reef gardeners, hired by funds raised within the community to grow coral reefs and care for them.
Benefits: Fisheries
- Local fishermen say the project has greatly increased the size, abundance, and diversity of fish catches in surrounding waters.
- Initially they were wary, thinking it was a way to restrict fishing.
- Now they strongly support the project because of the benefits that they see.
Benefits: Ecotourism
- Toursits come from all over the world to see the projects.
- Half of them had heard before and came for that reason.
- They come back again and again to watch the projects evolve.
- They tell their friends and family
- This has created Ecotourism jobs for the villagers
Benefits: Biodiversity
- A nearly barren reef is now lush with corals and swarming with fish
- The corals are much more resistant to high temperatures and sediment stresses
- Vast numbers of new corals have spontaneously settled
- Our coral arks aim to protect Biodiversity from global warming
Benefits: Climate Change Adaptation
- We are growing corals that are much more resistant to global warming, with 16-50 times higher survival following heat shock
- Growing back reefs lets us grow back severely eroding beaches and islands threatened by global sea level rise.
Benefits: Pride and Self-reliance
- This project has been done almost entirely with local resources, and we have never had major funding from the outside
Benefits: Leadership by Example
- We hope that every coastal community in Indonesia and around the world that has lost their coral reefs and fisheries will do what we are doing in Pemuteran to grow back and sustainably manage their own marine resources for their children’s future.
Go to www.biorockbali.webs.com for more information about the Pemuteran Project.
Go to www.globalcoral.org for more information and spectacular photos on this project and projects worldwide.