All posts by Lydia Hales

2016, Australia-Indonesia Collaboration

Better ways to conserve the Coral Triangle

Six Southeast Asian countries are working together to better conserve the world’s centre of marine biodiversity, the Coral Triangle, with the hope that this will lead to a more collaborative approach to sharing coral reef resources in the area.

The Coral Triangle sits between Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands, a group of countries that have formed the Coral Triangle Initiative. It is home to 76 per cent of the world’s known coral species, 2,500 reef fish species, and the largest area of mangroves in the world.

Continue reading Better ways to conserve the Coral Triangle →

2016, Australia-Indonesia Collaboration

Is the Bali ocean sunfish tourism sustainable?

Researchers are diving deep to find out more about the ocean sunfish, the Jabba the Hutt of the fish world, that hang out on the reefs off Bali for just three months each year. They’ve become an intriguing tourist attraction for divers, but is this tourism sustainable?

The sunfish head to the reefs from July to October to seek out cleaner fish—such as longfin bannerfish and emperor angelfish— which help them remove skin parasites and clean up skin lesions.

Continue reading Is the Bali ocean sunfish tourism sustainable? →

2016, Australia-Indonesia Collaboration

Lessons in conservation from traditional indigenous practices

What can we learn about contemporary conservation from indigenous practices? A West Papuan PhD candidate at James Cook University in Cairns is finding out.

In the Bird’s Head Peninsula region of Indonesia, Freddy Pattiselanno is researching how indigenous peoples’ traditional hunting patterns have adjusted in the face of societal changes.

Continue reading Lessons in conservation from traditional indigenous practices →

2016, Australia-Indonesia Collaboration

Rehabilitating mangrove forests may help combat climate change

Twenty hectares of old, abandoned fish ponds have been rehabilitated into mangrove forests in Tiwoho, in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi.

Their efficiency in capturing and storing carbon from the atmosphere is being put to the test by researchers, in the hopes the rehabilitation process can help mitigate the effects of climate change and restore the provision of ecosystem services, such as fisheries, provided by healthy mangroves.

Continue reading Rehabilitating mangrove forests may help combat climate change →

2016, Australia-Indonesia Collaboration

Manta rays munching on micro-plastics

More than a million tons of plastic are thought to enter Indonesia’s
oceans every year.

Much of it is in the form of micro-plastics, and that could be harming iconic oceanic filter feeders such as the manta ray.

Continue reading Manta rays munching on micro-plastics →

2016, Australia-Indonesia Collaboration

Conservation that works for governments, communities, and orangutans

The three nations that share the island of Borneo— Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei—could retain half the land as forest, provide adequate habitat for the orangutan and Bornean elephant, and achieve an opportunity cost saving of over $50 billion.

The findings, by a research team led by The University of Queensland with members in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Europe, were published in Nature Communications in 2015.

Continue reading Conservation that works for governments, communities, and orangutans →

2016, Australia-Indonesia Collaboration

Lemons to keep elephants out of trouble

Rows of lemon trees will be trialled as a deterrent for elephants wandering into rice fields, in a bid to reduce conflict between humans and the giant mammals.

The work is in Lampung Province, Sumatra, on the border of Way Kambas National Park in Indonesia, and forms part of a broader approach by an international group of organisations to help the Sumatran rhinoceros, the Sumatran tiger, the sun bear, the Sunda pangolin and the Asian elephant.

Continue reading Lemons to keep elephants out of trouble →

2016, Australia-Indonesia Collaboration

Environment and conservation

• Using mangroves to fight climate change
• Clever spending for orangutans, elephants, and people
• Lemons to keep elephants out of trouble
• Manta rays ingesting toxic plastics
• Bali’s ocean sunfish vulnerable?
• What do indigenous practices have to offer in conservation?
• Conserving the world’s centre of marine biodiversity
• The Australia-Indonesia Centre Urban Water Cluster
• Women in fishing communities

Indonesia and Australia both enjoy biologically rich and diverse natural environments, on land and in their surrounding waters. Despite their unique species and ecosystems, the two countries face many similar environmental challenges—which is why researchers are working together on ways they can be conserved.

Credit for banner image: Sun Wook Kim.

2016, Australia-Indonesia Collaboration

Giving start-ups a fair go

Indonesian and Australian entrepreneurs will have more opportunities and support for collaborative start-ups, thanks to a joint-push by Austrade and technology companies telkom telstra and muru-D announced in May 2016.

muru-D, a start-up accelerator backed by Telstra, has previously lent its support to aquatic drones and a “ride-sharing service to space” via nano-satellites. The support for start-ups includes seed funding, coaching, mentoring and access to a network of industry professionals, from their offices in Sydney and Singapore.

Continue reading Giving start-ups a fair go →

2016, Australia-Indonesia Collaboration

Citizen science recovering volcanic farmlands

An Indonesian initiative is putting science—and the laboratory—into the hands of communities; combining the arts, science, and technology with some basic science lessons for the general public.

In 2014, the HackteriaLab gathering in Yogyakarta brought 40 scientists, artists, and academics together for two weeks to work on existing local community projects.

Continue reading Citizen science recovering volcanic farmlands →