Nusa Dua (Antaranews Bali) - The National Organizing Committee of the IMF-WB (the International Monetary Fund-World Bank) Annual Meetings has planted coral reefs on Nusa Dua Beach, Bali, as an effort to conserve the environment.
"This event is not only talking about an annual meeting, but we also have concrete contributions," Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Panjaitan said after planting coral reefs in Nusa Dua, Bali, Sunday.
Luhut, who is also Chair of the National Committee of the IMF-WB Annual Meeting in Bali, noted that an area of 242 hectares is a part of the sustainable program for improving coral reef ecosystems in Indonesia.
The coral planting program is the beginning of the big economic and financial event which will be held on October 8-14.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo also participated in the coral reef planting program.
According to Lagarde, the coral reef planting was a real contribution in protecting the environment.
"We can contribute to the protection of coral reefs. This is what we hope will continue to hold," she said.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said nearly 60 percent of the world`s coral reefs were found in Indonesia, and therefore worldwide concern was expected to protect the nature.
"Nature belongs to all of us, so we all have to show our concern. If there is damage, we should fix it while preventing future damage," she said.
Perry Warjiyo said human life depends on nature, including coral reefs. For this reason, conservation requires joint efforts to strengthen concern on nature.
Indonesia is part of the Coral Triangle area located in the western Pacific Ocean. Besides Indonesian waters, the area also covers the waters of Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands.
The Coral Triangle has nearly 600 different species of reef-building corals, nurtures six of the world`s seven marine turtle species and more than 2000 species of reef fish.
In terms of socio-economic aspect, the Coral Triangle is a home to over 120 million people who depend their life on coral reefs for food, income and protection from storms.The Coral Triangle also supports large populations of commercially important tuna, generating a multi-billion dollar global tuna industry.
The IMF-WB Annual Meetings will be held on October 8-14, 2018. Around 32 thousand delegates including the Ministers of Finance and the Central Bank Governors of 189 countries will be present at the meetings.
In addition, 23 heads of state, including ten ASEAN leaders will also attend the meeting. (WDY)
