JAKARTA — Indonesians are set to vote in presidential and legislative elections on Feb. 14 in a landmark moment for the world’s largest archipelagic country. But maritime observers say none of the candidates have given any priority to fishers, coastal communities and the fate of Indonesia’s marine ecosystems. Billed as the world’s biggest single-day election, 205 million people are eligible to vote, with the presidential race largely seen as a referendum on the legacy of President Joko Widodo, who leaves office in October. Yet none of the three candidates seeking to succeed him has offered any breakthrough programs to empower coastal communities and protect the waters on which fishers depend for their livelihoods. “Indonesia urgently needs a paradigm shift in the protection and management of marine ecosystems toward the adoption of a strong sustainability paradigm,” Mas Achmad Santosa, chief executive officer of the think tank Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative (IOJI), said at a discussion on Feb. 2. Indonesian fishers unloading their catch. Image courtesy of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. He was referring to a policy concept in which ocean and coastal ecosystems are established as critical natural capital with important ecological, socioeconomical and cultural benefits. Indonesia is home to the second longest coastline in the world and some of the richest marine biodiversity on the planet. Its thousands of islands straddle the Pacific and Indian oceans, and host large parts of the Coral Triangle, a region with the highest coral and reef fish diversity in the world.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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