It is getting harder and harder to watch climate impacts through social media from around the world and then one day it hits you in the face as you dive into your favourite dive site. The once beautiful and vibrant reef has turned chalk white. Fish and other creatures are swimming around looking lost and the usual sounds of the reef have turned silent.
Raja Ampat, Indonesia’s world-renowned marine paradise and other coral reef ecosystems worldwide, are facing a coral bleaching crisis. Science has warned us that coral reefs cannot survive in a world that warms up to 1.5c and last year we officially crossed this critical threshold.
In recent months, Raja Ampat has experienced widespread coral bleaching, where corals lose their vibrant colours and the essential algae they depend on due to excessive heat stress. This bleaching has affected fragile species like Acropora and even more resilient species such as brain coral, with divers and conservationists reporting vast stretches of once-thriving reefs turning pale and lifeless. Whilst it is not clear the extent and permanence of the bleaching crisis this is a significant alarm signal.
In Raja Ampat, the water temperature-driven bleaching event is known to be exacerbated by other anthropogenic inputs such as sewage from the shore-based and liveaboard tourism industry and the harvesting of marine life and biodiversity critical for balanced reef ecosystems. These other stress factors make the reefs less resilient to warming waters and hence it is important to ensure an overall healthy marine ecosystem to increase their climate change resilience.
While economically beneficial to the region and investors, the rise in tourism has led to an increase in marine vessel traffic liveaboard boats, dive operators, and transport vessels. Unfortunately, the environmental toll of these vessels is becoming harder to overlook. Local communities, who lack income from the tourism sector and depend on the marine environment for their food security and livelihoods are facing the biggest threat, as they cannot just move elsewhere as the local reef deteriorates.
Through platforms like Ocean Eye tourism operators and tourists are playing an active role in supporting local conservation efforts. Ocean Eye partners with programs such as Child Aid Papua which educates students about marine conservation and runs initiatives to protect coral reefs. Divers can report marine animal sightings through the platform, with donations going directly to support habitat protection efforts. This provides long-term education to coastal communities about the value of marine animals alive, hopefully leading to a healthier balance of biodiversity on reefs, and increasing their resilience.
By working together with tourism operators, visiting divers, conservationists, and local communities can take critical steps to safeguard Raja Ampat’s unique marine ecosystem before it’s too late.