EMBRIO Mission

a) Indonesia’s Marine Biodiversity under threat

Biodiversity can be defined in several ways, but it generally refers to the number of species (including their genetic variations and their ecological interactions) living in ecosystems. Marine biodiversity refers to the species richness and abundance in the world’s oceans and seas. Our planet is covered with approximately 70% water and the amount of life in the oceans is enormous. For a long time, the marine environment was considered better buffered against human influence than the land. Resulting from this, scientific efforts to investigate and protect marine biodiversity lag for several years behind terrestrial research. In recent years, however, it has become clear that there are severe, often large-scale changes occurring in the biodiversity of marine habitats. Many of the most striking changes can be linked to human activities (e.g. activities resulting in pollution, habitat loss and overexploitation of resources), climate change effects, and invasion of non-endemic species (both of which, arguably, can also be attributed to human activities). According to the UNESCO ‘Blueprint of The Future We Want’ (resulting from the UN Conference for Sustainable Development Rio20+), more than half of the world’s marine species may stand on the brink of extinction by the year 2100 if the way we humans treat marine ecosystems is not substantially changed. Ocean acidification may render most regions of the ocean inhospitable to coral reefs, which will severely affect food security, shoreline protection, biodiversity, and tourism. Commercial overexploitation of the world’s fish stocks is so severe that it has been estimated that up to 13 percent of global fisheries have collapsed. 60% of the world’s major marine ecosystems that underpin livelihoods have been degraded or are being used unsustainably. Excessive nutrients from sewage outfalls and agricultural runoff have contributed to a high number of low oxygen (hypoxic) areas known as dead zones, where most marine life cannot survive, resulting in the collapse of ecosystems. Agricultural practices, coastal tourism, port and harbor developments, damming of rivers, urban development and construction, mining, fisheries, aquaculture, and manufacturing, among others, are all sources of marine pollution threatening coastal and marine habitats. In consequence, between 30 and 35 percent of the global extent of critical marine habitats such as seagrasses, mangroves, and coral reefs are estimated to have been destroyed.

b) Indonesia’s Biodiversity – Biotechnological potential and ecosystem functions

One could argue that biodiversity has innate importance, as life has value on its own. Besides this consideration, marine ecosystems have several functions critically important to life on Earth in general and to human well-being in particular. Habitats such as mangroves are key to coastal protection against extreme flooding events. High marine biodiversity increases the resilience of marine ecosystems against climate change and ocean acidification. Marine resources were recently estimated to contribute 16.9% of the animal protein for nutrition worldwide (FAO, 2012). Marine biodiversity is essential to the provision of ‘ecosystem services’ such as:

c) Science for the Sustainable Use of Indonesia’s Treasure Trove

Indonesian marine habitats are world-renowned hotspots of biodiversity, this way constituting an immense treasure for the Indonesian people. It is estimated that more than two-thirds of the world’s biodiversity is undescribed. This ratio probably is even much higher for Indonesian marine ecosystems considering that they are famous to support a poorly documented wealth of biodiversity. With an archipelago of about 17,000 islands, 990 of which are permanently inhabited, the Indonesian archipelago provides ideal conditions for the evolution of a variety of endemic species. At the same time, Indonesian marine habitats are among the most threatened by detrimental human activities resulting in pollution and habitat loss throughout the archipelago. In fact, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed Indonesia in fourth place on the red list for loss of biodiversity (IUCN 2012). Consequently, Indonesia stands at the brink of losing an immense treasure trove that as yet has largely been untapped. Currently, there is a strong international interest in protecting Indonesian marine biodiversity as a resource for biotechnical innovation. Indonesia has been identified as a global priority in all recent international initiatives to set targets for biodiversity conservation. It is crucial for the country to be aware of its natural treasures in order to ensure that their value will appropriately be appreciated in international partnerships. However, reliable documentation requires a combination of field survey-based scientific knowledge and modern phylogenetic technologies. Because of the plethora of species in Indonesian marine ecosystems, the discovery of individual organisms as a source of biotechnological innovation requires targeted approaches based on a profound understanding of the species’ diversity and the individual peculiarities that may afford biotechnological exploitation. Significant parts of Indonesia’s native biodiversity have neither been discovered nor scientifically documented, and only very few species have been screened for compounds and metabolites with potential medical applications yet. This offers a unique opportunity to explore a vast resource of biodiversity for biotechnological potential.

Doing this, it is imperative to study the impact of removal of organisms from their habitat on future stocks and the ambient ecosystems prior to their exploitation for economic purposes. In the coming decades, Indonesia has the chance to take full advantage of the country’s enormous biological resources and to establish their sustainable use. However, like many other countries, Indonesia’s economy is facing great challenges. Resources are limited and the general awareness for the preservation of biodiversity is underdeveloped. For the government it might be challenging to provide the long-time investments required to build up resources and capacities to preserve Indonesia’s natural biodiversity. Conservation of national biodiversity in many parts of the population is not rated as a priority and so financial support oftentimes goes into short-term projects that promise immediate economic profits but do not sustainably prevent the destruction of the natural resources.

In order to secure the marine habitat as a basis for biotechnological innovation, human well-being and survival, it is imperative to establish and extend the scientific basis for efficient, knowledge- based marine biodiversity conservation. Among the major challenges for future marine biodiversity research, therefore, is to monitor and counteract biodiversity loss as well as to develop strategies to make use of the as yet still existing plenitude of marine resources in a responsible and sustainable way. Despite this obvious need, research on marine biodiversity is rarely conducted in Indonesia due to lack of the necessary resources. Moreover, Marine Biodiversity Research in Indonesia most of the times is scattered with only very few concerted efforts. EMBRIO aims to counteract this by promoting national and international collaborations across scientific disciplines, making use of synergies that arise from cooperative endeavors of scientists with complementing expertise.