The Indonesian experience in marine capacity building

Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world. The 3.1 million km2 seas cover about two-thirds of its territory. The 200 miles exclusive economic zone adds another 2.7 million km2. Marine related programmes are given a high priority by the Indonesian government. During the last two decades a concerted effort in marine capacity building has been carried out through bilateral, regional and international co-operation. This effort included, among others, increasing manpower development, expanding and improving research facilities, establishing a national marine data centre, and improving communications and co-operation throughout the marine science community. The bilateral agreement with the Netherlands in the mid-1980s for the implementation of the Snellius II Programme, laid the intellectual basis for the Indonesian marine science capability. The necessary research vessels were obtained through bilateral co-operation with France. At present Indonesia operates: a network of tide gauges and current meter stations; two satellite ground stations; tropical radar wind profiling stations; a network of marine pollution stations; a number of ocean going, coastal and fisheries research vessels; and six SEAWATCH monitoring buoys. It is expected that Indonesia will play a major role in the western Pacific region in the near future. This paper gives a brief review of the Indonesian experience in developing a national marine capability.