Seabed that Supports Life on Earth

In Indonesia, reef ecosystems directly support the lives of millions of people in coastal regions.

Kompas/Heru Sri Kumoro

Mohammad Abrar (right), a researcher at the Oceanography Research Center of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), checks a coral reef in the waters of Babua Island, Jailolo, West Halmahera, on Thursday (27/7).

When he journeyed across the Nusantara archipelago from 1854 to 1862, British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace noted that coral reefs obstructed ships from approaching islands. As it turned out, these coral reefs are highly beneficial to life on Earth.

For the coastal population and environment, coral reefs ensure the availability of sources of protein, medicines, foreign exchange from tourism, livelihoods and environmental protection. In Indonesia, which has a marine region that makes up two-thirds of its area, about 2.5 million hectares of coral reefs exist in varying conditions across the archipelago.