Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali | Wed, 02/24/2010 5:45 PM
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been honored with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Award for Leadership in Promoting Ocean and Marine Conservation and Management.
The award was presented Wednesday by UNEP executive director Achiem Steiner during the opening of UNEP's 11th Special Session of the Governing Council in Nusa Dua, Bali, which is the first ministerial-level meeting organized by the UN body since the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
The President was honored for "personally spearheading" the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), the high-level political commitment among the governments of several countries around the Coral Triangle area, to safeguard the region's marine and coastal biological resources for the sustainable growth and prosperity of current and future generations.
The Coral Triangle covers the areas of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, East Timor and Papua New Guinea. It lies across mere 1 percent of the earth’s surface, but is said to contain a third of the world's coral and three-quarters of its coral reef species.
In August 2007, Yudhoyono wrote to seven other leaders in the area proposing a new CTI, which was then agreed upon and signed in Manado shortly after the World Ocean Conference in May 2009.
"The CTI represents a key step in protecting one of the most important marine ecosystems on the planet," UNEP director of information Satinder Bindra said before presenting the award to the Indonesian President.
"It's a commendable example of regional cooperation and it's an initiative which has been personally spearheaded by His Excellency President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono," he added.
In his speech after the award ceremony, Yudhoyono said the award belonged to all Indonesians, not just to him.
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