FIRST SENIOR OFFICIALS MEETING OF CORAL TRIANGLE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 003355 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, EAP/RSP AND EB/IFD/ODF TREASURY FOR TFCA BERG DEPT FOR OES/IET AND OES/ETC NSC FOR CEQ CONNAUGHTON, VAN DYKE E.O. 12598: N/A TAGS: SENV EAID KGHG ECON PREL ID SUBJECT: FIRST SENIOR OFFICIALS MEETING OF CORAL TRIANGLE INITIATIVE ¶1. (U) Summary: Indonesia hosted the Coral Triangle Initiative meetings on the margins of the Conference of the Parties 13 to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali. During a closed session of Senior Officials Meeting on December 6, the six CTI countries (Indonesia, East Timor, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands reached agreement on their general and specific objectives. On December 7, the CTI countries agreed to a draft chairman's summary and shared outcomes with delegations from the United States, Australia, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and NGOs, including the World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy and Conservation International. The U.S. delegation stressed its commitment to this initiative and announced our intention to commit $4.35 million in new funds to the CTI. Australians pledged technical expertise and hinted at future additional development assistance. GEF CEO Monique Barbut said the GEF is ready to embrace the CTI, describing intentions to earmark $9.0 million and to help leverage other contributions to create additional resources. ADB committed $2 million for start-up costs over the next twelve months. The NGOs pledged $500,000 for immediate stakeholder consultation in the six countries. Over 100 NGO representatives and other officials attended a separate CTI stakeholder event on December 7. End Summary. CTI Country Delegations Well Prepared -------------- ¶2. On December 6, Indonesia hosted a closed session senior officials meeting of the six CTI countries. This was the first time the countries had met to discuss the CTI. Dr. Charles Vernon, former Chief Scientist of the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences and Jose Ma Lorenzo Tan from World Wildlife Fund Philippines provided expert counsel to the delegations. Observers included representatives from World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and the Government of Pulau. ¶3. According to NGO observers, all CTI countries delegations came well prepared for the meeting and provided excellent country presentations. NGOs characterized the discussions as productive and constructive. Although senior officials from the delegations had different expectations for the meetings and different authority levels for making commitments, delegations quickly reached consensus They met their objectives, including establishing a common understanding for CTI, creating guiding principles, actions, and committing to establishing a CTI plan for action. Participants agreed to form a technical working group and discussed the possibility of holding a follow-on Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) in the Philippines in May 2008. They also agreed that Indonesia would continue to provisionally host the CTI Secretariat and that the World Oceans Conference in May 2009 might be a potential venue for hosting a CTI Summit. On December 7, Chairman Professor Dr. Syamsul Maarif (Director General for Marine, Coastal and Small Island Affairs from the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs) reconvened the meeting. CTI delegations agreed to adopt the draft Chairman's Summary as the summary of the First Senior Officials Meeting. Other Delegations Pledge Funding, Expertise -------------- ¶4. Chairman Maarif opened the December 7 CTI Consultation meeting with a short film on CTI. The Philippine Delegation provided an overview and shared outcomes from the December 6 meeting with all parties. The Chairman then invited the United States, Australia, the GEF, the ADB and NGOs to make presentations. ¶5. The US Delegation stressed President Bush's commitment to the CTI initiative and announced the USG intention to provide $4.35 million in funding to support the efforts of CTI partners. The funds would be in addition to the ongoing efforts of U.S. agencies like NOAA and USAID. The delegation also outlined USG involvement in oceans and coastal management, including recent activities and initiatives like the creation of the National Marine Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, the Marine Debris Initiative and efforts to strengthen fisheries management. The US Delegation included Gerhard Kuska, Council on Environmental Quality; Dan Reifsnyder, Department of State; and Alfred Nakatsuma, USAID. JAKARTA 00003355 002 OF 002 ¶6. The Australian delegation emphasized technical expertise and lessons learned from managing the Great Barrier Reef national park since its establishment in 1975. The delegation stressed the contributions that Marine Protected Areas can make toward both biodiversity and community development Although not specifying funding toward the CTI, the Australian delegation noted that the new Australian administration planned to increase development assistance to 0.5 percent of GNP, with much of this to be devoted to environmental and climate change issues. Australia hinted that the CTI and CTI countries are likely to benefit from this increased assistance. ¶7. GEF, ADB and NGOs also presented at the meeting. GEF expressed commitment to the CTI and noted that GEF would like to play a central role in facilitating funding for this effort. GEF is able to leverage financial contributions at a ratio of 1:4. New Zealand, China and France have already expressed interest in CTI. GEF indicated that the Asian Development Bank would likely be the lead GEF agency. ADB pledged $2 million for start-up over the next twelve months. The NGO delegation pledged $500,000 for immediate stakeholder consultation for the six countries and commitment to draw on networks and private philanthropy for additional contributions. ¶8. The meeting closed with the Chairman noting that President Yudhoyono would host a December 10 meeting with Delegation heads followed by a press conference. The chairman summarized that CTI countries are looking for assistance with financial support to develop and implement an action plan, technical and scientific expertise, technical inputs to the action plan, financial support at the ground level once plans are developed and the establishment of a trust fund. HUME 2