Coral Triangle Business Summit to Spur Green Revolution

The Coral Triangle spans the territories of six Southeast Asian and Melanesian counntries. Comprising no more than 1% of the total surface of the Earth, the land and sea ecosystems found within this area are the most diverse and colorful ever found on the planet. Unfortunately,the ecosystems of the Coral Triangle are under threat from a combination of human and natural forces.

World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) is scheduled to co-host with the Philippine Government a Business Summit on the Coral Triangle. The following is the WWF media release for the January 18-21, 2010 meet:

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia – The Philippine Government recently announced that it will co-host with WWF a Business Summit on the Coral Triangle.

"By inviting sectors that rely on a healthy marine environment in the Coral Triangle, as well as the tourism, communications, and investment sectors, this Business Summit will contribute to the pursuit of sustainable business development and investment," said Manuel Gerochi, Philippine Undersecretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources during the 4th Senior Officials Meeting of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI) in Kota Kinabalu.

The Coral Triangle Business Summit, which be held in Manila on January 18 to 21, 2010, will outline business opportunities for key sectors that rely on marine resources and provide a platform for financial support and investments for businesses willing to commit to sustainability and green growth.

“This event will make a compelling case for sustainable investment and business in the Coral Triangle” said Dr Lida Pet-Soede, WWF Coral Triangle Programme Leader.

“Putting new economic growth on a sustainable path requires courage, innovation, partnership and, not the least, access to credit, finance and investment, which are often major barriers to progress. Through this summit, we hope to find a way to bridge this gap” added Pet-Soede.

Covering just one per cent of the earth’s surface, the Coral Triangle includes 30 per cent of the world’s coral reefs, 76 per cent of its reef building coral species and more than 35 per cent of its coral reef fish species as well as vital spawning grounds for other economically important fish such as tuna.

The region sustains the lives of more than 120 million people, along with thousands of small and medium businesses that heavily rely on healthy marine environments and resources.But the Coral Triangle is under threat from over-exploitation, environmental degradation, poverty, and global economic recession – all compounded by severe climate change.

According to a WWF-commissioned report for the Coral Triangle, coral reefs will disappear from the Coral Triangle by the end of the century and the ability of the region’s coastal environments to feed people will decline by 80 per cent if no effective action on climate change is taken.

The Business Summit will place special emphasis on the growing demand for 'green' products globally, which can drive sustainability in supply chains within the Coral Triangle. There will also be opportunities for regional and national financial institutions and investors to explore emerging investment opportunities, and to network and forge partnerships with companies that are dependent on the Coral Triangle's natural resources.

This event follows from the CTI Leaders Summit in Manado, Indonesia in May 2009, where the six Heads of State of the CTI committed to ambitious conservation and development targets across the region through a Regional Plan of Action, a large part of which requires meaningful engagement from the private sector.

WWF supports the CTI by providing targeted support for issues related to climate change, fisheries, tourism and marine protected areas through its Coral Triangle Programme.

"The Coral Triangle Business Summit is intended to help businesses reap market rewards through responsible stewardship of the marine environment. The threat of climate change and the growing consumer demand for 'green' products point to one need -- improved management of the Coral Triangle," said Dr Lida Pet-Soede.

ENDS

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Editors note:

§ The Coral Triangle—the nursery of the seas—is the most diverse marine region on the planet, matched in its importance to life on Earth only by the Amazon rainforest and the Congo basin. Defined by marine areas containing more than 500 species of reef-building coral, it covers around 6 million square kilometres of ocean across six countries in the Indo-Pacific – Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste.

§ It is home to 3,000 species of reef fish and commercially-valuable species such as tuna, whales, dolphins, rays, sharks, and 6 of the 7 known species of marine turtles.

§ The Coral Triangle also directly sustains the lives of more than 120 million people and contains key spawning and nursery grounds for tuna, while healthy reef and coastal systems underpin a growing tourism sector. WWF is working with other NGOs, multilateral agencies and governments around the world to support conservation efforts in the Coral Triangle for the benefit of all.

§ For information on Coral Triangle go to: www.panda.org/coraltriangle

For more information

Paolo P. Mangahas, WWF Coral Triangle Programme Communications Manager (Kuala Lumpur), Tel: +60 3 7803 3772 Mobile: +6 013 673 0413 Email: pmangahas@ywwf.org.my