Project background
Coral reefs are one of the most important and productive ecosystems on earth, but they face grave threats from global to local scales. From the effects of climate change, overfishing, pollution and much more, the reefs that millions of people rely on are facing a bleak future. A key method to protecting reefs is through promoting their resilience to these threats. The fewer local threats they face, the stronger the ecosystem is to survive bleaching events and other global issues.
Safety standards for diving are so deeply embedded in the industry they are now a habit. Through Green Fins, we are working to achieve the same for environmental standards. Green Fins, active across 11 countries, is a proven approach to reducing the impacts of marine tourism on coral reefs. This funding has supported the growth of the programme in Indonesia – a world class diving destination and part of The Coral Triangle – with some of the best reefs in the world. By mitigating the local threats from tourism activities (e.g. anchoring, touching coral, use of sunscreen), this project continues to protect and conserve Indonesia’s precious reefs for the future.
Project activities
In October 2019, Reef-World trainers travelled to Ambon, Indonesia, to conduct a 6-day training workshop for 6 Green Fins Assessors from the provinces of Maluku, North Maluku, West Papua, Jakarta and Bali.
This included recruiting dive operators as Green Fins members and assessing and certifying their environmental performance. All trainees received hard and soft copies of the Green Fins Assessor Pack with all the tools and materials they need to implement Green Fins in their respective locations. The training included Green Fins theory, an evaluation of trainees’ diving skills and a test, which all 6 assessors passed with flying colours.
As part of their training, the teams conducted real-life Green Fins assessments with 2 dive shops, including providing feedback and solutions to dive shop management to improve their environmental performance. Both dive shops also received a Green Fins awareness raising presentation for their dive staff and boat crew, that was adapted for local issues. As new Green Fins members, both dive shops received a Member Pack of environmental materials and a certificate of membership.
This project also supported the vast amount of admin and preparatory work behind the scenes of this training workshop, promoting the work post-workshop, as well as ongoing remote technical support from Reef-World to the new team.
Project outcomes
- A team of 6 new Green Fins assessors were trained and certified.
- Increased the reach of Green Fins assessors from 1 to 5 provinces.
- Launched Green Fins is one new site (Ambon).
- 5 dive operators were recruited as Green Fins members (100% of the local industry).
- 2 dive operators were certified as Green Fins members.
- 2 Environmental education presentations were attended by 25 dive staff and members of the local community (16% female).
- 5 action plans were formulated to implement Green Fins and reduce threats to reefs in different provinces across the country.
- 6 Green Fins Assessor Packs produced and disseminated.
- 2 Green Fins Member Packs produced and disseminated.
Community involvement
Whilst the main stakeholder of Green Fins are the dive and snorkel operator members, it is the staff run the shop and dive every day that hold the key to ensuring a sustainable future for both coral reefs, and the diving industry. Often from the local area, they become the eyes for their community on the reef – a unique position to bring home inspiring stories from the sea. The dive staff we worked with during this project were incredibly proud of the marine life of Ambon, especially of certain endemic species such as the astounding Psychedelic Frogfish (pictured above).
They are also the first to see the destruction caused by careless divers or intrepid underwater photographers who move and manipulate (a.k.a. stress out) marine life just to get the perfect photo. The tools, posters and guidance from Green Fins were received really well by the local dive guides – giving them effective tools to balance customer satisfaction and the need to correct or stop their guests if they are causing damage to the marine environment.
Since the training, one of the new Green Fins member shops has organised a large-scale clean up event with other dive shops, and local community members and NGOs, collecting 168kg of rubbish! It’s the start of a monthly activity that will unite the community.
What next?
This project has boosted impact of Green Fins Indonesia, enabling it to be able to reach and work with hundreds of dive operators across the country and help them reduce their environmental impact. The work continues, with this team already having conducted assessments and certified 9 operators this year. The demand for Green Fins membership in Indonesia is substantial, and this team will continue to work with the diving industry and local community to identify threats and implement solutions for the protection of their reefs and livelihoods.
Project background
Coral reefs are a vital ecosystem providing food security, coastal protection and employment from tourism for millions of people around the world. Indonesia is home to one of the most extensive coral reef systems in the world and, with such a large population, it has more people living close to (and reliant on) coral reefs than anywhere else in the world.
Unfortunately, reefs are heavily impacted by both global and local threats. The effects of global climate change – such as increased ocean temperatures and a more acidic ocean – are a major cause of coral reefs bleaching and dying.
Locally, there are many other threats including anchoring, direct diver damage, chemical discharge from cleaning agents, fish feeding and sunscreen use. Only 6.5% of Indonesia’s reef are classified as in excellent condition while 36% are in bad condition (Indonesian Institute of Sciences).
As home to a vast range of biodiversity, coral reefs draw the majority of the world’s scuba diving and snorkelling tourism. First-hand experience of these beautiful ecosystems often inspires divers and snorkelers to love and protect them. Simultaneously, poor practices from dive and snorkel operators and tourists – both above and below the water - can directly damage fragile corals.
With one million divers being certified each year and many more snorkelling on coral reefs around the world, the need to manage the balance between creating advocates through diving and protecting reefs from dive-related damage is greater than ever before.
The Green Fins approach
Green Fins, a UN Environment initiative coordinated internationally by The Reef-World Foundation, sets the standards for environmentally-friendly diving and snorkelling. It provides guidelines and resources that help marine tourism businesses reduce their environmental impacts both above and below the water. So far, Green Fins has been adopted by governments and NGOs in 10 countries (and counting!).
Reef-World launched Green Fins Indonesia in January 2018 with the Coral Triangle Center, its government partners at the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and 14 dive and snorkel operators across Bali and Komodo. The initiative has been extremely well received with almost daily membership requests from all around the country. Training more assessors will help meet this need; facilitating the expansion of the initiative and spreading its positive impact across tourism hotspots around the country.
Project objectives
This project aims to reduce threats to coral reefs at Indonesian tourism hotspots by improving the environmental sustainability of marine tourism businesses. The project will focus in regions of high-demand such as Bali (including Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembonga, Nusa Ceningan),
also Komodo, the Gili Islands and Sulawesi.
Reef-World will train national teams of tourism industry workers, with government support, so the Green Fins approach can continue to improve marine tourism standards and protect coral reefs long after the project’s completion.
Sustainable tourism can only be a success when everyone works together. Under the Green Fins umbrella, the key players who manage and use coral reefs are brought together to identify and mitigate high risk tourism practices. By reducing the threats Indonesia’s reefs face locally, we increase their resilience to face global threats including climate change.
Project activities
Visiting coral reefs on a near-daily basis, dive and snorkel operators see first-hand the environmental changes coral reefs are experiencing and can be instrumental in their protection. Our project focuses on improving environmental best practice of these businesses and their staff; establishing marine tourism as a role model industry for sustainable use of coral reefs.
Indonesia hosts several world-class dive sites and the tourism industry is set to grow substantially in the coming years. In 2016, 12 million people visited Indonesia and a recent tourism report predicts a growth rate of 10% each year. By implementing Green Fins, Reef-World can establish best environmental practice as a foundation for sustainable growth and safeguard the ecosystem of Indonesia’s coral reefs for future generations.
Project costs
The $10,000 raised by the Footprints Network will cover:
- Supporting Reef-World staff to travel to Indonesia for meetings, training and support with government and NGO staff
- Training workshops for a team of Green Fins Assessors
- Creation and provision of environmental training materials and manuals
- Year-round technical support to ensure effective implementation
- Online promotion and awareness to the successes of Green Fins Indonesia outcomes
Project partners and community involvement
Green Fins helps governments and businesses work together to solve local issues without conflict.
The Coral Triangle Center (CTC), a highly renowned NGO, is our leading partner for Green Fins alongside the Indonesian Government.
Dive operators are a significant source of employment for communities in reef tourism hotspots. Local guides are exposed to environmental education and best practice, local solutions and annual training to support positive changes in their environmental habits. They not only pass this information on to tourists but also champion better environmental habits among their own communities.
By involving Government officials in this grassroots approach, Green Fins helps communities, businesses and governments work together more easily and in a neutral and collaborative manner to mitigate local environmental threats. For example, in other Green Fins countries, these collaborations have resulted in the creation of a hotline where divers can report illegal fishing and other environmental violations.
Part of a larger strategy
Safety standards for diving are so deeply embedded in the industry they are now a habit. Though Green Fins, we are working to achieve that for environmental standards.
Reef-World’s aim is to make sustainable diving and snorkelling the social norm. Already active across 10 countries and over 550 operators, this project will protect coral reefs by cementing environmental best practice as a foundation for the sustainable growth of Indonesia’s marine tourism industry.
One diver knocking and breaking a piece of coral doesn’t sound like much, but Green Fins tackles the cumulative impacts from all these divers, which can add up to intense local threats in dive and snorkel hotspots. What’s more, Green Fins is becoming a recognised standard allowing tourists to choose a dive operator in line with their environmental values.
