[Coral-List] Birth of the Tojo Una-Una Coral Triangle Centre

[Abigail Thompson]

Dear Friends and Colleagues

We would like to share our good news with you all! We 
intend to post further updates as the CTC develops! 
Attachments are not allowed I believe but a picture of the 
happy event is available and we will shortly have a 
bilingual (English and Indonesian) pdf brochure ready to 
send on request.


Birth of the Tojo Una-Una Coral Triangle Centre (CTC) in 
the Togean Islands, Gulf of Tomini, Indonesia

On 18th February 2008 the Tojo Una-Una  "Coral Triangle 
Centre " (CTC) was officially established as a major local 
initiative in response to the 6-Country Coral Triangle 
Initiative declared in September 2007. This grass-roots 
concept born in 2007 received support from key local and 
national figures and the formal declaration was made by 
Tojo Una-Una District Head Drs Damsik Ladjalani in the 
presence of the Minister for Underdeveloped Areas and 
representatives from 5 other Ministries including the 
Ministry for Marine Affaires and Fisheries and the 
Ministry for Tourism, the Governors and key officials of 
all three Provinces and most Districts surrounding the 
Gulf of Tomini, the Head of the Togean National Park 
Authority, and many key non-government stakeholders.

In the centre of the Gulf of Tomini at the heart of the 
"Coral Triangle", the CTC has an operational base in 
Wakai, which is in the Togean Islands, Tojo Una-Una 
District, Central Sulawesi Province. The CTC will develop 
a local, national and international network to support 
it's work in building local capacity for sustainable 
management of marine and coastal resources and promoting 
the conservation of coral reef ecosystems through a wide 
range of approaches. The CTC will serve as an information, 
training and research centre and be capable of hosting 
domestic and overseas scientists and volunteers, with the 
development of "science-based tourism" as one key 
objective.

The CTC team can be contacted on 
coraltrianglecentre at yahoo.com, and a webpage is currently 
under construction.

Abigail Moore
Marine Consultant
Yayasan Palu Hijau
Jl Setia Budi Lorong Siswa No12
Palu 94111, Sulteng
Indonesia
abigail2105 at yahoo.com