Strengthening Conservation Area Management, This Is What The KKP Is Doing

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) through the Maritime and Fisheries Human Resources Counseling and Development Agency (BPPSDM KP) provides assistance in order to strengthen the management of water conservation areas based on local wisdom through the role of indigenous law communities.

"As well as the implementation of the blue economy program, we also continue to provide assistance to strengthen the technical capacity and managerial capacity of indigenous law communities," said Head of the Marine and Fishery Research and Resources Agency I Nyoman Radiarta in a written statement, quoted Thursday, September 21.

Strengthening the capacity of indigenous law communities focuses on several aspects of competence, including environmental ethics and human interactions with nature, analysis of perpetrators who destroy natural resources, introduction of coral reef ecosystems, mangroves, seagrass and coral fish, community-based natural resources management, introduction of IUCN and CITES biota, and introduction of Signing blue and PFON platforms.

In addition, it also focuses on EAFM and seafood save-based fisheries processing, introduction of catch and mitigation issues, to strategies for controlling and supervising fishery and law enforcement practices.

"This knowledge and capacity is important in the implementation of the role of the community in guarding water conservation," said Nyoman.

The strengthening of the role of indigenous law communities and other communities in maintaining the sustainability of water conservation areas has been carried out in a number of locations, one of which is in the Wakatobi Marine Protected Area (MPA) which is one of the centers of excellence (CoE) to various parties in terms of water conservation initiatives, including traditional law communities.

According to Nyoman, there is positive reciprocity with community involvement in maintaining the conservation area of the waters.

The reason is, on the one hand, indigenous peoples contribute to the maintenance of a healthy marine ecosystem, on the other hand, the community also experiences direct benefits in the form of adequate food needs, the development of the marine tourism sector, more in-depth research, interesting diving activities, and leads to an economic improvement in the local community.

"In turn, we certainly hope that this sustainable water conservation area can provide economic leverage to the community," he said.

In an effort to improve capabilities, the KKP has carried out Improvement Training for the Capacity of Fisheries Communities, Tourism Communities, Indigenous Communities, Fisheries Entrepreneurs, Tourism Entrepreneurs in Natural Resource Management, at the Water Conservation Area Management Training Center, Marine and Fisheries Community Academy (AKKP) Wakatobi, on September 15-22, 2023.