Coral reef destruction is most evident in Indonesia. Indonesia has around 51,000 square kilometers of coral reefs without including reefs in remote areas that have not been mapped. Thus, with this statistic, Indonesia is the world’s leader in size and diversity of coral reefs because18% of the world's greatest diversity of coral reefs is found in Indonesian waters. () Fringing reefs are also common around most islands of the Indonesian Archipelago. The other type of reef, which is barrier reefs also grow along the edge of the Sunda Shelf, east of Kalimantan, and around the Togian Islands of central Sulawesi, and in the deeper seat to the east. Moreover, Pulau Seribu or The Thousand Islands form a spectacular chain of platform reefs with many coral islands out from the capital city.
However, these coral reefs are disappearing quickly and are already largely destroyed because of anthropocentric behaviors that have endangered these coral reefs. Figure 1 below shows the regions within Indonesia where there are high risk of reefs.
Reefs at risk in Indonesia
“Although Indonesian reefs have the fastest natural recovery in the world, when under ideal conditions, recovery is impossible or far too slow in most places due to the widespread, intense, and increasing stresses the reefs are under.” () These erosion and reef degradations are caused by archaic waste disposal systems and unsustainable resource management practices such as deposition of rubbish and sedimentation on the reefs, physical destruction of reefs by fish bombing, cyanide fishing, coral mining, and dredging, as well as decreasing water quality and primary productivity through industrial pollution and nutrient enrichment. Along with the effects of pollutants and exploitation patterns, it may be anticipated that global warming due to the greenhouse effect, will also result in structural adjustments to coral reef communities.
The Thousand Islands is a more specific area within Indonesia which has major coral reef degradation due to human activities. The Thousand Islands is an archipelago placed northwest of Jakarta within Jakarta Bay which stretches some 80km in a northwest to southeast line and 30km from east to west. However, this is an unfortunate to lie immediately offshore from a metropolitan area of 20 million people and the combined effect of land-based pollution and sedimentation which are causing destructions in the fragile reef ecosystem. With rapid growth of population in Jakarta, there will be higher destructions of coral reefs in Thousand Islands. “One by one the real Thousand Islands (Pulau Seribu) in Jakarta Bay are disappearing!”()
Figure 2 shows how human behaviors have caused a disappearance of an island and this figure is only one out of the nine islands that had disappeared. The relation of these disappearance and coral reefs are that coral reefs provide dynamic protective structures to islands, so as the conditions of the coral reefs in the Thousand Islands are declining, the islands are also disappearing. As shown in the figure, the structure of the islands keeps on getting smaller because there are no more coral reefs to protect it. This vanishing of islands took around 80 years while on the other hand; the recovery of these islands will take so much longer.
There are actually 105 islands and The Thousand Islands are used for tourism, sand mining, off shore oil exploration, sailing, as well as fishing. However, the worsening condition of coral reefs is caused by local fishermen and specimen collectors and also by the developers of private resorts, as well as the improper inadequate disposal of waste by industry and local government authorities. As a result, there are direct and indirect coral reef users which caused the decline of the number of reefs. Low income in community is the base of this cause because it contributes to coral mining and dredging for free material of house constructing. 75% of population in The Thousand Islands works as traditional fishermen, as shown in the picture on the right, who are fully dependant on nature, especially the reefs. As a result this dependency has caused exploitation on these reefs. Moreover, the locals are highly competitive in using natural resources, thus leads to unsustainable destruction of reefs such as destructive fishing by using bombs and potassium cyanide to get bigger yield.
(present value; 10% discount rate;25y. time-span; in US$ ,000; per km
()
Figure 3 above shows the total net benefits and losses associated with the jobs that directly or indirectly contribute to the destruction of coral reefs in the Thousand Islands. This figure shows conflict between private profit and public loss by showing the estimated benefits to individuals against the losses to society for each square kilometer of coral reef left unprotected. These benefits that the local individuals gain from destructing the coral reefs causes much more loss to the society as they affect all of the local community as well as the ecosystem surrounding these coral reefs. As a result, we can see the effects of damaging these coral reefs on the loss of the society. However, these activities still give income for the locals and so it is likely to keep going and keep causing more and more of coral reef destruction.
Another cause of coral degradation is the extensive coral bleaching, which is the loss of symbiotic algae, in 1998 in the Thosand Islands. “About 90-95% of the corals extending from reefs flat down to a depth of 25 m were affected.” () this coral bleaching causes many species to be endangered and the Acropora spp. were the most impacted species during this extensive coral bleaching.
Figure 4 above shows the abundance of coral reefs and were ranked on the distance of Jakarta. This figure is used as large-scale inclusion and rapid coral reef assessments which show the population of the different types of coral reefs. Coral reef abundance, diversity and concentrations of hydrocarbons and certain heavy metals in sediments. We can see from the previous figure also that the population of the coral reefs increased as it is further distance from Jakarta. Pollution is a serious problem threatening natural resources in the Thousand Islands. Pollution comes from mainland, Jakarta and surrounding Islands, in several forms such as major coastal rivers transporting sediments, sewage, agricultural and industrial effluents, and solid waste. Most sewage comes from household materials, as shown by the picture on the right. Moreover as Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia, it is the most industrial city where broad expanses of agricultural land drain into the sea. Oil pollution from vessels and mine also contribute to these destructions. All of this water pollution, in different forms, passes through the sea to the waters of the Thousand Islands, which cause damage to the coral reefs.
Figure 5 above shows the amount of litter that has increased so much in ten years and it is also rated from the distance from Jakarta. These water pollution facts also act as a source of reef degradation in The Thousand Island as it will highly effect the future coral growth and regeneration. This is one of the causes of holding back the reed growth because these plastic bags sink to the sea bottom and blankets over the sea bottom of the inner Thousand Islands resulting in incapability of coral reefs to grow.
As a global environmental citizen, we should plan out possible solutions on this environmental issue. First, to educate the people about this environmental issue of coral reef destructions particularly in the Thousand Islands especially, must be done quickly to raise the level of awareness within the various groups who earn their daily living from the sea. Moreover, the resorts in the Thousand Islands should also have better methods of soil containment in order to decrease runoff and decrease the amount of litter going to the sea which affects these coral reef destructions. As for the possible solutions for tourism, it will be good to have sign awareness in resorts where diving and snorkeling are major attractions; incoming tourists should be made aware of environmental issue concerning the coral reefs. Also, as a part of a welcoming protocol, visitors could be made aware of reef etiquette via brochures or by a formal introduction by dive center staff. In addition, there should also be protected areas where no destructed activity can be done, thus enabling the reef to repair and spawn. Also, every dive operators should give full environmentally friendly instructions to their employees. Moreover as for the Jet Ski uses in these tourism resorts, it is possible to have regular designated paths marked and used by jet skiers and thus will lead to open water over the edge of the reef where the fun begins. This way the spare area is safe from the possibility of destruction.
As for the local fishermen and specimen collectors, there should also be solutions and restrictions in the way they fish or collect specimens. These local fishermen and coral reef collectors should be informed by environmental people on just how corals grow and the genuine concerns that the aquarium trade shares over environmental issues and exploitation of the reef resources. The local crews and villagers should also be operated to follow the proper ways to collect and minimize damage to the environment while collecting these reefs. Also, there should be a limit or quotas followed by the collectors to eliminate over-collecting and over-destructing these coral reefs. Furthermore, it is also important to detail all collecting activities with fisheries to ensure a sustainable yield. Also, locals should be trained in the art of collecting fishes to reduce the destructions of coral reefs such as by fish bombing or other dangerous techniques. Fisheries should also make regular checks to make sure that no cyanide or bleach is being used in the collection process. Thus, by monitoring this, it also monitors that the coral is not being destructed at the same time or killed by the use of cyanide or bleach.
At the same time, the Indonesian government should also enforce these proposed solutions to ensure that the required techniques are being followed. However, the law in Indonesia has not been consistent enough but it should be improved in the future with vast decreasing number of coral reefs. Thus, towards these ends, the education and cooperation of people throughout The Thousand Islands and in Indonesia is necessary for the sake of our coral reefs.
Therefore, we can also incorporate possible solutions for these destructions of coral reefs in our daily lives such as the 3R’s to lessen the number of waste and garbage that drains into the sea as all of this water pollution, in different forms, passes through the sea to the waters of the Thousand Islands, which cause damage to the coral reefs. This is because we are also indirectly destructing these coral reefs. Lastly, the ones who are aware should spread this environmental awareness, thus as tourists also, we can act environmentally friendly when visiting tourism places.
In conclusion, many anthropocentric factors are causing coral reef destructions and this will have an effect on the loss of the surrounding ecosystem a reefs are home to over 4,000 species of fish, 700 species of coral and thousand other forms of plant and animal life and this estimates to more than 1 million species of plants and animals are associated with the coral reef ecosystem. Moreover, it will also impact the people with diseases that are helped by these coral reefs. The beaches will also lose protection when coral reefs are destructed. Furthermore, it will also affect the local economy of the country. This includes the displaced people from islands, tourism, as well as tax revenue. Thus, we should take action in this environmental issue because losing coral reefs will have a huge impact on the world today especially in the Thousand Islands.
