Making A Difference... One Reef At A Time

Once upon a time there was a wise man who liked to go to the ocean to write in his journal. He had a habit of walking along the beach before he began his work. One day while walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the waves. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently tossing it into the ocean. As he got closer he called out,"Good morning! What are you doing?" The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Tossing seastars back into the ocean." "I guess I should have asked, why are you tossing seastars back into the ocean?" "The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don't toss them back in they'll die." "But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and seastars all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!" The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked another seastar and gently tossed it back into the sea, past the breaking waves and said, "It made a difference for that one."

I've been looking for a reason to gather my thoughts for a post on Palau, one of my favorite places on the planet and a big reason why I'm doing what I do. And today I had two encouragements to follow through. First, The Saipan Blogger, who has a bunch of blogs, my favorite of which is the aptly named The Saipan Blog, added a comment on my CNMI post last night asking if I had heard of The Micronesian Challenge. The second encouragement was The New York Times story today on how Palau's no-fishing zones are benefiting their reefs. In the story, they also refer to The Micronesian Challenge.

I have so much I can say about Palau–great places, people, culture, language, stories and memories... but I'll save that for another time. For beginners, Palau (locally referred to as Belau and officially recognized as the Republic of Palau) is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, some 500 miles (800 km) east of the Philippines. Comprised of 607 islands with an estimated 14,000 square kilometers of coral reefs, it's the largest area of shallow marine ecosystem in the Micronesian region. Palau is also one of the world's youngest and smallest nations–having emerged from United Nations trusteeship (administered by the United States) in 1994.

In a situation very similar to the Kubulau District in Fiji, as a result of decreased local fish catches in the 1990's (primarily from fishing pressure and loss of reef from unsustainable fishing by non-Palauan interests) Palau villages began setting aside traditionally fished near-shore waters as no-take (taboo) areas. Interestingly, villages began seeing increased fish catch again in adjacent waters and improved coral health.

So what about that challenge? On November 5, 2005, Palau President Tommy E. Remengesau Jr. (a superb man I've had the honor of meeting twice and who you are just as likely to see in a government meeting as you are in the downtown coffee shop/internet cafe), recognized the urgent needs of his country, its people and its lands and waters, and issued a challenge to neighboring Micronesian nations: set aside for conservation 30% of near-shore coastal waters and 20% of their forest resources by 2020. Palau already has that amount in reserve, though not all of it is enforced. But the rest of the Micronesian region has far less.

The Challenge countries – Palau, Federated States of Micronesia and Marshall Islands, and the U.S. territories of Guam and Northern Mariana Islands – represent nearly 5 percent of the marine area of the Pacific Ocean and 7 percent of its coastlines. Yet the president's challenge could have an even larger impact on conservation around the globe. Not only does the Micronesia Challenge have the potential to accelerate efforts to meet conservation targets for the challenge countries, but it has rippled far beyond Micronesia.

As The NY Times points out,

Five months after Mr. Remengesau issued it, President Susilo Bangbang Yudhoyono of Indonesia pledged to increase marine protected areas to 24.7 million acres from 18 million acres by 2010. In the Antilles, the states of Grenada, the Bahamas, Belize and the Grenadines, which have already protected some reef areas, have committed themselves to a Caribbean Challenge and are trying to persuade the other nations to make similar pledges, according to Bill Raynor, the Nature Conservancy’s director for Micronesia.

And that ripple effect has been felt right here in the United States too, right? Not so much. Marine protected areas amount to less than 1% of near-shore US waters. And in Hawaii, home to America's largest coral holdings, a “right to fish” bill being considered at the state Senate right now would give unparalleled power to commercial fisheries, undermine marine science by making it almost impossible to create any new protected areas, and leave us with an ocean in greater crisis. Chock-up yet another global apology for arrogant, self-serving US policy-making.

But what about that 30% of protected coastal waters by 2020? Will the collective 30 percents of participating nations have a positive effect in building reef resilience, the ability of coral reefs to resist and recover from environmental stressors? While we must, of course, continue to gather evidence, the scientific, resource management, and conservation communities seem to say YES. But that's if conservation activities can be coordinated to also target the reduction of local reef threats. The combination of MPAs, local threat reduction, and community support for MPA effectiveness can add up to resilient coral reefs, better able to cope with the more global onslaughts of coral disease or increased sea surface temperatures associated with climate change. While there are fringe elements of the conservation community who have poo-poo'd resilience, demanding more evidence, their protests amount to a lot of poo-poo. Climate change deniers use the same stalling, agenda-laden tactic, too.

Thankfully, Palau and other tiny Micronesian nations have decided to be less jaded, lead by example, and hopefully make a difference... even if it's just one reef at a time.