TA-7753 Strengthening Coastal and Marine Resources Management in the Coral Triangle
of the Pacific
Regional Planning Meeting, 27 – 29 April 2015
Global Change Institute, University of Queensland, Australia
Welcome Remarks
by
Andrea Ifland
Director, Pacific Liaison and Coordination Office
Asian Development Bank
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning to all of you. On behalf of the Asian
Development Bank, I welcome you to the Coral Triangle Pacific Regional Planning
Meeting. We are fortunate to partner with the Global Change Institute of the University
of Queensland to host this meeting and provide us with their technical expertise to
review the list of proposed activities for financing under this regional technical
assistance project. A representative from the Coral Triangle Initiative Regional
Secretariat also joins us this week to participate in discussions and support coordinated
action in the Pacific toward food security, resilient coastal management, and climate
change adaptation.
It is significant that we are here, virtually at the foot of the Great Barrier Reef,
which is an ideal example for us of the use and benefits of best-practice coastal
management.
Six years after the launching of Coral Triangle Initiative in Manado, Indonesia, in
2009, a platform for coordinated action has been established in response to the
collective threats facing the coastal and marine resources and, of course, the people of
the Coral Triangle. These threats include impacts of climate change, overfishing, use of
destructive fishing methods, pollution, and other strains on these fragile and globally
significant ecosystems. The process by which neighboring countries developed the
Initiative’s Regional Plan of Action and its associated national plans is a remarkable
demonstration of how regional cooperation in pursuit of mutual interests can benefit all
involved. The Asian Development Bank strongly supports such regional cooperation,
and we are pleased to have helped this process.
We must work together to promote and advocate a better understanding of the
linkages between oceans and climate change as well as the adverse likely impacts of
climate change on ecosystems, marine biodiversity, food security, and quality of life of
the region’s coastal communities. There is a need to strengthen our partnerships and
our networks for capacity building and information exchange on pressing resource
management and climate change issues.
This technical assistance project has strong potential to make a significant
contribution to improving the relevance and effectiveness of the Coral Triangle Initiative
by (i) strengthening national and community institutions in sustainable coastal
management; (ii) increasing the resilience of coastal ecosystem management through
climate change adaptation; (iii)
creating opportunities to apply best practices in
resources management; and (iv) generating and disseminating knowledge for policy
and decision makers, practitioners, development partners, and other relevant
stakeholders.
Recommendations from the mid-term review of this project will be presented to
guide country programming activities and to help prioritize contributions to the results
framework on which the success of this program will be assessed.
Thank you for joining us in this endeavor to make the project as effective as
possible. I look forward to hearing the results of the planning meeting and the ways in
which ADB can help the Coral Triangle Pacific countries meet their coastal
management goals.