GAF AG successfully completes consultancy for Coral Reef Information and Training Centers (CRITC) in Indonesia

Munich – Jakarta, 27 – March 2008 - GAF AG, an internationally active geo-information company, has completed its consultancy services including technical assistance, know-how transfer, provision of skills and experience in the fields of coral reef ecology, coral reef management, GIS, web and institutional strengthening to the headquarters of CRITC in Gedung LIPI, Cikini, Jakarta and 8 districts in Sumatra. Works started in January 2005 and has been performed under a contract for the Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Program (COREMAP), Phase II.

Indonesia has 17,600 islands with 80,000 km of shorelines and is known to have the richest coral reefs in the world. The coral reefs of Indonesia serve many purposes for their adjacent coastal communities: natural barriers that protect the beach; natural barriers that are there to be modified to make boat launching less difficult; habitats for locally consumed seafood and habitats for seafood harvest and cage rearing for net income generation to the village. The coral reefs, however, are facing immense threats from human activities such as overexploitation, destructive fishing, and pollution, which have become widespread throughout the country.  Using coral reef resources properly will sustain and increase their value to coastal villagers in the long term as habitats for diverse fisheries, sources of building materials, and protectors of shorelines.

Community based resource management (CBRM) is the underlying concept for COREMAP in the management of coral reefs. CRITC has supported the CBRM processes in the following sectors :
- ‘characterize’ (compiling specific local information for preparing a coral reef management plan),
-  ‘design’ (providing support in preparing coral reef management plans including zoning maps, regulations and alternative income generation schemes).
- ‘Implement’ (supporting role by collaborating in public awareness and education)  and
- ‘monitor’ (CRITC`s major ongoing activity as Benefit Monitoring and Evaluation using the indicators of reef health and socio-economic well-being.
Major contributions were made for the development and refinement of the ‘Coral Reef Management Information System (CRMIS), reflecting the National CRITC’s important role as the central coral reef information repository for Indonesia.  

David Peters, GAF representative in Indonesia observes: “The successful completion of CRITC project is an important milestone for GAF, now providing technical assistance services to this geographic area from its new representative office in Jakarta. The CRITC project underlines the emphasis GAF is now devoting to environmental consulting in the coastal and marine domains.”

CRITC is funded by a loan from the Asian Development Bank, Manila. Works have been performed under contract to LIPI, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences by GAF AG as the lead firm in association with Coffey International Development of Australia and PT. Geosys Intipiranti of Indonesia. In total 101 person months of on-site technical assistance and consulting were provided. For more details on CRITC please visit the project website at www.coremap.or.id/tentang_critc/intro.

About COREMAP:
COREMAP (Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Program) began in 1998. It is a long term program with the overall objective to establish a viable, operational, and institutionalized coral reef management system in priority sites in Indonesia. It consists of three phases: Phase I: Initiation (1998- 2004), Phase II: Decentralization and Acceleration (2004-2009), Phase III: Institutionalization (2010-2015). COREMAP is now in Phase II, with goals of establishing viable reef management systems in at least six priority participating districts in order to empower and to support coastal communities to sustainably co manage the use of coral reefs and associated ecosystem resources. The second phase expands the number of program sites to build upon the pilots tested in Phase I and focuses on promoting collaborative management partnership between communities and local governments. The COREMAP website (www.coremap.or.id/tentang_coremap/mengenal_coremap) offers further details and access to the COREMAP reef GIS.

About GAF AG: (www.gaf.de)
GAF AG is an international consulting company with leading competence and expertise in applied remote sensing and spatial information systems. GAF has been active during the last 20 years in more than 100 countries throughout Europe, Africa, South-America and Asia. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of services including the supply of geo-data (e.g. satellite and aerial imagery, digital elevation models) and geo-services (e.g. image processing, thematic mapping, GIS/DBMS applications and software development), as well as consulting, capacity building and training. GAF AG has a proven track-record in performing technical assistance projects in the natural resources and environment sector. The company’s activities are overseen by the CEO, Dr. Peter Volk.

To obtain more information, please contact:
GAF AG
Tel. +49 (0) 89 12 15 28 0
www.gaf.de