IPB University Researcher: Indonesian Coral Reef Health Study Needs to be Published Globally
As an archipelago, Indonesia has an extraordinary wealth of marine biodiversity. One of them is coral reefs that have the highest area and biodiversity in the world.
However, according to one of IPB University’s researchers, Dr Tries Blandine Razak, important data on the condition of Indonesia’s coral reefs is often overlooked by the international community. He said that most of the monitoring data and research findings are published in Indonesian.
“Indonesia accounts for approximately 15 percent of all coral reef areas globally. That means, Indonesia plays an important role in the preservation and management of the world’s coral reef ecosystem,” he said.
Departing from this, Dr Tries Blandine Razak and a team of researchers from the Department of Marine Science and Technology (ITK), Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Science (FPIK) IPB University conducted a study of Indonesian coral reef data to get global attention.
Monitoring Indonesia’s Coral Reefs
Dr Tries and team have systematically collected and analyzed coral cover data across Indonesia to assess changes over the past few decades. Data were drawn from a variety of published sources, including research reports, theses, scientific journals and more.
The research team analyzed a total of 7.614 data taken from 621 publications. Interestingly, it was found that 79,1 percent of the publications were written in Indonesian, which accounted for 63,4 percent of the total data.
“This data shows that despite the vast amount of information available, language barriers are one of the factors that make Indonesian coral reef data less accessible to international researchers,” said Dr Tries.
No Significant Change
The results of Dr Tries’ data analysis showed that there was no significant change in coral cover in Indonesia over the period 1994 to 2022. This finding is surprising given the many challenges faced by coral reef ecosystems, such as climate change, overfishing, and pollution.
“We propose several possibilities as to why there was no significant change in coral communities,” said Dr Tries.
These possibilities include that the study may have represented new baseline conditions, and therefore did not reflect more pronounced changes than before. Also, the large scale of the analysis could have overlooked small or localized changes that occurred in some areas.
Furthermore, he explained that less objective or inconsistent collection of monitoring data from various sources could affect the results of the study. “There is also a possibility that coral reefs in Indonesia have a higher level of resilience compared to other regions in the world,” he explained.
The Importance of Local Data and Global Knowledge
One of the key findings of the study is that while a wealth of local data is accessible, the lack of integration with global knowledge can hinder a deeper understanding of coral reef ecosystem dynamics.
“By utilizing local data that has been overlooked, we can gain a more comprehensive understanding of the state of coral reef health and the challenges it faces,” said Dr Tries.
This, he added, could open up opportunities for international researchers to pay more attention to publications in local languages, which are rich in important information but often go unnoticed by the world.
Overall, this study makes a significant contribution to understanding coral reef dynamics in Indonesia. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of integrating data from multiple sources for more effective marine ecosystem conservation efforts in the future.
For more information about the research results, please contact Dr Tries Blandine Razak via email tbrazak@apps.ipb.ac.id or access research information through https://link.springer.com/
