Indonesia Reef, a nation-wide volunteer-based reef check program

When it was first announced early this year, Indonesia Reef shook the local diving community. And why not?! This event is going to be the first large scale, volunteer-based, effort to monitor the condition of Indonesia's coral reef, from the western-most ecosystem in Aceh, to systems in Cendrawasih Bay in Papua. Long awaited, activities will start June in Komodo.

This is an exciting project that has its origins in concerned citizens and individuals, and backed by various non-governmental organizations. Volunteers provide time and contribution to costs, the rest being covered by sponsors and perhaps a small amount of public funding. Volunteers will use monitoring methods developed by ReefCheck organization.

I hope that efforts like these will not only yield badly-needed ecological data, but also socio-economic benefits to local community as their reefs are brought to national attention through mass media and perhaps some international coverage. Only by exposing the (potential) economic benefits of reefs do we have any hope of conserving them.

On a lighter note: I applied for Halmahera, Ambon and Wakatobi. But there's, like, hundreds of people wanting to volunteer for these prime spots!! Wish me luck!