Authorities in Indonesia’s Maluku province say they will establish new marine protected areas this year, following from five created last year alone, as part of wider efforts to preserve natural resources while boosting the local economy.
“In 2023, we are already targeting to designate a marine protected area in the [northern] waters around Buru district since the funding is already secured,” Erawan Asikin, head of the provincial fisheries department, told Mongabay Indonesia on Jan. 10. He added the Maluku government is also looking to designate the waters off southern Buru district as a conservation zone.
Last year, Maluku designated a total of five MPAs around a group of islands in the eastern part of the province, namely Tanimbar, Damer, Babar, Romang, Mdona Hiera, Lakor, Moa, and Letti. The establishment of the new areas was supported by the conservation group WWF Indonesia.
These new and upcoming MPAs in Maluku are part of Indonesia’s target to conserve 10% of its territorial resources by the end of this decade. The country currently has 284,000 square kilometers (110,000 square miles) of marine area under protection, roughly two-thirds of the way toward the goal. The Indonesian marine conservation network includes national parks, nature parks, wildlife reserves, and regional protected areas.