THE INDONESIAN EXPERIENCE IN MARINE CAPACITY BUILDING

Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world. The 3.1 million km( 2) seas cover about two-thirds of its territory. The 200 miles exclusi ve economic zone adds another 2.7 million km(2). Marine related progra mmes are given a high priority by the Indonesian government. During th e last two decades a concerted effort in marine capacity building has been carried out through bilateral, regional and international co-oper ation. This effort included, among others, increasing manpower develop ment, expanding and improving research facilities, establishing a nati onal marine data centre, and improving communications and co-operation throughout the marine science community. The bilateral agreement with the Netherlands in the mid-1980s for the implementation of the Snelli us II Programme, laid the intellectual basis for the Indonesian marine science capability. The necessary research vessels were obtained thro ugh bilateral co-operation with France. At present Indonesia operates: a network of tide gauges and current meter stations; two satellite gr ound stations; tropical radar wind profiling stations; a network of ma rine pollution stations; a number of ocean going, coastal and fisherie s research vessels; and six SEAWATCH monitoring buoys. It is expected that Indonesia will play a major role in the western Pacific region in the near future. This paper gives a brief review of the Indonesian ex perience in developing a national marine capability. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.