Supporting Coastal Zone Management in Bantan Bay Indonesia

To develop a Monitoring and Management Information System (Banten Bay MIS) with a focus on four marine ecosystems to support the coastal zone management process in Banten Bay, NW Java, Indonesia.Specific Objectives:

• To identify the function of the a-biotic system and four marine ecosystems (coral reef, seagrass, groupers and a large bird sanctuary) for the main actors.
• To model the driving forces, processes and interactions between the marine ecosystems, natural resources and human activities.
• To determine indicators to describe and value the condition of the marine ecosystems.
• To develop a Monitoring and Management Information System (Banten Bay MIS) for planners and decision-makers embedded in an appropriate institutional framework for coastal zone management.
• Analysis of the main actors to better understand their perceptions and valuation of the coastal zone resources.
• Analysis of interactions between the socioeconomic and natural system (e.g. reef ecosystem, grouper ecosystem) to study the effects of human activity on the functioning of these systems.

The Bay of Banten, located 60 kilometres west of Jakarta, has a total water surface of 150 km2. The bay is shallow and characterised by relatively high turbidity. The area (see map below) accommodates valuable marine ecosystems such as seagrass fields, coral reefs and a bird sanctuary of international importance.

The coastal zone, particularly the western part, is rapidly industrialising and is to become one of the major growth centres near Jakarta.

Currently, the high turbidity, large-scale coastal developments, overexploitation of marine resources and the use of destructive fishing methods are the most threatening pressure factors on the marine ecosystems.

Impacts of inland pollution, though not yet severe, are expected to become important threats. The function of the natural resources and the marine ecosystems are not well understood and there are no indicators to judge and monitor the performance of these systems. Proper planning and decision making are hampered by lack of targeted and accessible marine environmental information.

In the light of the decentralisation going on in Indonesia during this time, resulting in more management tasks at the district level, this problem is becoming more urgent.

These are the core activities of the Dutch-Indonesian Teluk Banten Research Programme on Integrated Coastal Zone Management.

Besides the coastal zone management project described in this sheet, the Research Programme consists of eight other projects: three a-biotic projects (sedimentation, morphological change, water transport), four biotic projects (coral reefs, seagrass, groupers and snappers, and the bird sanctuary), and one remote sensing project.

All projects consist of co-operation amongst researchers from Indonesia and the Netherlands, as part of the Teluk Banten Research Programme.

The management of the complex coastal zone system requires a good understanding of (1) the processes that govern and influence the a-biotic and biotic system, and (2) the interaction between these systems and the human activities in the coastal zone.

Such understanding help to define better the function of the different ecosystems for the environmental and socio-economic well-being of the coastal zone.

The development of the MIS involved the following activities:- Analysis of the main actors to better understand their perceptions and valuation of the coastal zone resources.

• Analysis of interactions between the socioeconomic and natural system (e.g. reef ecosystem, grouper ecosystem) to study the effects of human activity on the functioning of these systems.
• Development of a scientific GIS database integrating spatial data of different coastal zone themes and spatial dimensions.
  Identification of pressure, state and impact indicators to monitor the coastal zone system with an emphasis on the four marine ecosystems.
  Institutional analysis to increase insight in the institutions involved in the management of the Banten Bay coastal zone, with an emphasis on Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA).
• Information analysis to identify the information demand of the coastal managers identified, and an analysis of how to present the research information resulting from the Teluk Banten Research Programme in Banten Bay MIS.

Output

One of the outputs is Banten Bay MIS, of which a first prototype version was completed early 2001. Furthermore, a number of scientific publications are available, including:- The perception of stakeholders on coastal zone issues and how these insights can support management.

• Marine resource use in Banten Bay, e.g. the catch and trade of live fish for food.
• Modelling of interactions between human activities and the functioning of coral reefs.
• The use of marine environmental information to improve coastal zone management with a focus on Environmental Impact Assessments.
• The development of information platforms, such as Banten Bay MIS, to make research information accessible to planners, and other stakeholders.
• Pros and cons of carrying out integrated coastal zone research.