Even though 75 percent of Indonesia’s territory is sea, complete with 17,500 islands and 108 kilometers of coastline whose wealth is limitless, Indonesia has not utilized much of its marine potential. Even though Indonesia’s mariculture production potential reaches more than 50 million per year. This does not include 45 percent of world trade in goods that crosses Indonesian seas. This was the highlight of the “Marine Spatial Planning & Services Expo 2023” which was held in Jakarta, Tuesday (19/9).
Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said Indonesia has the potential to become a high-income country in the next few years if it succeeds in developing its maritime potential. The proportion of this sector in the Indonesian economy is targeted to double no later than 2045. This, he added, can be achieved by downstreaming, digitalization, dekabornization, education, village funds and connectivity.
One of the superior marine products that can be worked on is seaweed, the downstreaming of which could become a National Strategic Project.
“We will make this seaweed a national strategic project because it will also help with environmental problems. And it will also make a contribution, it could be plastic, it could be organic fertilizer, it could also be biodiesel. “There are lots of things that can and also absorb carbon emissions,” said Luhut.
Center for World Maritime Civilization
Furthermore, Luhut hopes that Indonesia can become the center of world maritime civilization. And to realize this vision, Indonesia’s economic growth in 2025-2026 is targeted to reach six percent.
Coordinating Minister Luhut Pandjaitan explained that in realizing maritime sovereignty and glory, it is necessary to have an integrated national spatial planning plan with an archipelagic perspective. (Photo: maritim.co.id)
“If today our economic growth is still five percent, with the complexity of our economy and downstream industry, we hope that in 2025-206 we will be able to grow six percent.”
To realize maritime sovereignty and glory, there needs to be an integrated national spatial planning plan that has an archipelagic perspective. “By optimizing the potential of maritime resources, becoming an important axis for world shipping, the main route for national and global telecommunications, a center for blue carbon and renewable energy from the sea are important aspects in realizing Indonesia’s maritime sovereignty and glory,” he added.
Meaningful Progress
Program Director of the Nusantara Nature Conservation Foundation (YKAN) Muhammad Imran Amin explained that in the last 25 years the government has started to change. Previously, the sea was only considered a place to dump rubbish. Then, since the early 1990s, the government has begun to form a Department of Marine Exploration. This shows that at least Indonesia has begun to see the urgency of planned marine management.
FILE – Seaweed farmers in Makassar, South Sulawesi (doc: Boedi Julianto).
Indonesia also passed the first law to accommodate social and economic aspects as important pillars in development planning in 2007.
Even so, Imran Amin believes that there is still sectoral ego. However, there needs to be integration between planning for land space and sea space.
“It is very possible (there is connectivity between land spatial planning and marine spatial planning), but in its implementation many parties only see the regional government completing the spatial planning integration as just abrogating the responsibility for orders from the law. If they don’t immediately make regional planning regulations integrated space, it is the central government that will determine regional spatial planning,” he said.
“What is happening on the ground now is that some local governments do not yet see that there is connectivity between land spatial planning and marine spatial planning,” he added. (fw/em)
