Day: December 1, 2021

Proper planning can help optimize and bolster disaster mitigation, the primary secretary of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said in a written statement posted on BNPB’s official website on Tuesday evening.

“In order to realize this, formulating quality and directed planning is necessary to resolve dynamic environmental challenges,” he said.

Disaster mitigation planning should be done in accordance with the conditions in each region by evaluating previous activities, with the aim to reduce disaster risk, he said.

“Provincial, district, city, regional disaster mitigation agencies (BPBD) should evaluate their implemented policies in order to know whether they are accurate, should they be continued, or should they be revised,” he elaborated.

The current priority in disaster mitigation is reducing the risk of a disaster since that can greatly affect material loss and loss of life, he said during the BNPB-BPBD’s Technical Coordination Meeting in Surabaya, East Java.

“Reducing the risk of disasters, or pre-disasters activities, is a form of investment. We would not lose anything despite the fact that we spend a lot,” he said.

Many studies indicate that US$1 spent on reducing disaster risk can save US$7, Kurniawan highlighted.

The Technical Coordination Meeting on disaster mitigation planning is being held from November 29 to December 3, 2021, to discuss regional activities planning in 2023.

The meeting will feature speakers from the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Domestic affairs.

It will also host speakers from BPBD and regional government organizations from provinces in the eastern region: North Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, North Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, Gorontalo, North Maluku, Maluku, West Papua, and Papua.

Source: Antara News

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono inaugurated the monitoring ship of the Center of National Waters Conservation Area (BKKPN) of Kupang City, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Province, on Wednesday.

The 11-gigaton (GT) vessel will be used to monitor the preservation of the ecosystem at the Sawu Sea National Park.

“Please continue to maintain the area. If more people come (to exploit it), then the ecosystem can be damaged,” Trenggono noted at the Tenau Kupang Port, Kupang City, NTT Province.

The ship — with speeds reaching up to 31 knots — will also survey the protected marine biota in the area and their habitats as well as the coastal ecosystems.

In addition, it is used to monitor the suitability and zoning of the biota’s habitat as well as to quickly handle stranded sea animals.

The vessel — capable of carrying 12 people — is named Balaenoptera, derived from the scientific name for blue whale since the sea mammal is the icon of the national park.

Thus, it will also oversee the implementation of blue whale tourism at the Sawu Sea National Park.

The area was determined to be a national park on January 28, 2014, through Ministerial Decree of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Number 5 of 2014.

It occupies an area of 3.35 million hectares, spanning 10 districts in NTT Province.

Meanwhile, apart from the blue whales, the main conservation targets in the area comprise turtles, whale sharks, manta rays, coral reefs, and seagrasses.

Head of BKKPN of Kupang City Imam Fauzi affirmed that the Balaenoptera Ship will further optimize the monitoring of marine ecosystems in the center’s working area.

“We are striving to maintain the sustainability of ecosystems in Sawu Sea in accordance with the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry’s vision of implementing the blue economy,” he added.

Source: Antara News

Indonesia and the Republic of Seychelles are exploring opportunities for strategic cooperation and investment based on the blue economy, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono has informed.

“I appreciate the Seychelles government’s support and cooperation, which encourages public interest and participation in efforts to accelerate a more inclusive, sustainable economic transformation and strategic partnerships in exploring pilot activities or other investments based on the blue economy,” Trenggono said in a statement issued in Jakarta on Wednesday.

As a blue economy pioneer country, Seychelles, through its sovereign blue bond program, has realized the fishery potential of an area can be a guarantee for investors, especially for the development of marine tourism, he noted.

The Indonesian government, especially KKP, which manages marine areas, continues to strive to achieve ecological and economic balance as well as technological innovation by applying the blue economy concept, he remarked.

“We have carried out various breakthrough programs by applying the blue economy principle, namely the implementation of measurable fishing for ecological sustainability, increasing fishermen’s welfare and also increasing non-tax revenue; developing the cultivation of four leading commodities in the global market, namely shrimp, lobster, crab, and seaweed; as well as the development of aquaculture villages based on local wisdom in freshwaters, brackish waters, and the sea,” he explained.

According to the minister, in addition to supporting national food security, the programs will have a multiplier effect on national development.

The policy is also expected to encourage investment opportunities in primary and secondary activities, one of which is managing marine tourism by not forgetting the importance of preserving the ecology, he said.

One of the cooperative efforts by Indonesia and Seychelles was the ‘Indonesia-Seychelles Blue Economy Workshop: Opportunities for Collaboration and Investment’, held at the KKP Headquarters in Jakarta on Tuesday (November 30, 2021).

According to the Special Envoy of the President of Seychelles to ASEAN, Nico Barito, as an archipelagic country, Seychelles pays very serious attention to the issue of saving the environment, especially marine resources.

Therefore, he proposed bilateral collaboration in the marine sector, especially in small islands and sustainable marine tourism, responsible fisheries, conservation, and monitoring of biodiversity and islands to achieve economic growth as well as environmental preservation.

“In building a blue economy, we are focusing on quality over quantity. As in tourism development, it is necessary to apply the concept of development that can minimize its negative impact, namely through the concept of sustainable tourism. Communities, tourists, and host communities as well as local governments must practice the concept of sustainability. In the fishing zone, it is also necessary to set a quota of fish that can be caught for industry, traditional fishermen, and quotas for hobbies and tourism to avoid overfishing,” he informed.

He also expressed the wish for collaboration in investment related to Seychelles’ best practices in the blue economy and the preparation of policy recommendations to achieve blue economy coherence; exploration of facilities and infrastructure in setting priorities for coastal management, including monitoring, research, coastal protection, and risk-based spatial planning; as well as increasing the capacity of marine and fisheries human resources.

Meanwhile, Indonesia proposed cooperation in the development of tourism destinations such as Maratua Island in Kalimantan and other potential locations through the expansion of world-class international hotel networks; active synergy in attracting foreign investment through guaranteed Indonesian marine wealth (Blue Bonds) as an effort to build a sustainable Indonesian marine and fisheries sector; develop marine and fisheries human resources; as well as benchmark the development of marine tourism with the development of marine tourism training modules at Indonesian tourist sites.

Seychelles was the first country to launch sovereign blue bonds on the sidelines of the Our Ocean Conference on October 28, 2018, in Bali.

The export value of Indonesian fishery products to Seychelles in 2020 was recorded at US$546,428 an increase of about 733 percent from the previous year when it was pegged at US$74,449.

Source: Antara News

The National Research and Innovation Agency’s (BRIN’s) Technology Review and Application Research Organization (OR PPT) has created a food product in the form of a meat floss that could prevent stunting in Indonesia, the agency’s official revealed.

“This contains vitamins that are able to increase iron that can be used to prevent stunting for teenagers,” BRIN’s official, Soni Solistia Wirawan, noted at the Health and Food Research and Innovation 2021 webinar here on Wednesday.

Stunting is impaired growth in children, specifically of the body and brain, owing to the lack of nutrition for a prolonged period of time.

Children suffering from stunting usually have a shorter body posture as compared to those with normal growth.

Stunting could occur when pregnant mothers suffer from anemia that is attributed to nutritional deficiency.

According to data from the Basic Health Research 2018, some 27.2 percent of women suffer from anemia.

If a pregnant woman experiences anemia for a long period of time, it could affect the fetus and the child could be born with stunting.

To this end, iron intake through the consumption of meat floss could prevent anemia that in turn could avert stunting in babies.

Iron is crucial for the production red blood cells in the body. Adequate intake of iron is expected to prevent anemia.

The meat floss of Purula brand could serve as a food supplement akin to furikake in Japan, Wirawan noted.

The meat floss was created with various flavors, such as beef, which can be adjusted to match the consumers’ taste, and it could also be consumed as it is with a hot rice.

Stunting remains a prevalent issue that the Indonesian government is keen to immediately address in order to support the birth of a productive and quality future generation.

According to data from the Indonesian Children Nutritional Status Survey (SSGBI) 2019, the number of cases of stunting in Indonesia had reached 27.7 percent.

Source: Antara News

Mutiara SIS Al-Jufri Airport, Palu, has confirmed it has begun a project this month to repair facilities damaged by the 2018 earthquake and tsunami in Central Sulawesi and upgrade existing facilities.

According to Palu Airport’s head, Ubaedillah, the airport revamp project will cover repairs to the airport terminal, supporting facilities, and 250 meters of the southern side of the runway that was damaged due to liquefaction in the 2018 earthquake.

The landside part of the airport terminal will be repaired first under the project, he informed. At present, the terminal is operating at 60 percent capacity, as both end sides of the terminal—which were significantly damaged in the quake—are yet to be repaired, he said.

“We have also requested the Transportation Ministry to beautify and modernize the terminal during the renovation project,” Ubaedillah said.

The project is expected to take around 1.5 months to complete, with the works scheduled to be commenced in January 2022, he informed.

The repairs will be performed by a third-party company, he said.

“Airport facilities that will undergo the revamping process are expected to be operational by May or June 2023, and we hope the Mutiara SIS Al-Jufri Airport could become an icon for Central Sulawesi province upon completion of the revamping project,” Ubaedillah remarked.

The airport head assured that flight activities and passenger movement at the airport will not be disrupted by the project.

The Transportation Ministry has also cooperated with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to fund the project, he added.

In the future, the airport will upgrade its 2,500-meter runway to allow larger aircraft than Boeing 737-900, currently the largest aircraft the airport can serve, to land, Ubaedillah said.

“We need assistance from the regional authority to elevate the Mutiara SIS Al-Jufri Airport status to be an international airport, as they also targeted the airport becoming a Hajj embarkation point in the future,” the airport head stated.

Source: Antara News

The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) has said it is collaborating with the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry and Transportation Ministry to realize sustainable development.

BMKG’s primary secretary Dwi Budi Sutrisno said that sustainable development requires synergy between knowledge and data from the tourism and maritime sector with the data that BMKG could provide.

“Additional value in the form of the strengthening of security, defense, and economy could only be realized if there is a synergy between the two sectors,” he explained in a statement on BMKG’s official website on Wednesday.

Indonesia’s territory is very strategic with its rich and unique, meteorological, climatological, and geophysical conditions, he said.

“This unique trait comes with the potential for disasters, which is why it needs to be managed well,” he added.

Proper management could reduce the negative impact caused by these disasters to bolster the safety of the people and the economy, he added.

Currently, BMKG has developed and operated several information and early warning systems for several disasters, including the extreme weather warning and its potential impact information system (Signature BMKG), he said.

In addition, there is also the Flash Flood Guidance System, shoreline flood warning and information system (CIFS BMKG), and Ocean Forecast System BMKG, he noted.

Further, there is the extreme climate early warning for drought potential information system, rainy and dry season information, ultraviolet intensity information, dengue fever prediction information (CEWS), and earthquake information system and tsunami early warning (INaTEWS), he added.

“We are also striving to integrate these hazards information systems into an integrated multi-dangers information system within a single platform to improve its effectiveness in realizing Zero Victim in the form of Geo-Meteorologist Multi-Dangers Early Warning System (MHEWS),” Sutrisno informed.

Meanwhile, sea transportation directorate general Arif Toha noted that the collaboration between the BMKG and the ministries is aimed at improving coordination and synergy between parties in utilizing maritime meteorology information.

The scope of the collaboration includes the provision, exchange, and utilization of maritime meteorology data and/or information and tsunami early warning, and distribution of maritime meteorology data and information, and tsunami early warning, he said.

Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry secretary Wayan Giri Adnyani said that events such as the World Superbike (WSBK) race in Mandalika, West Nusa Tenggara, is one popular event that requires accurate weather info.

“So, that the problem and disaster mitigation could be handled well,” she explained.

Source: Antara News