International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXII, Part 6. Bandung-lndonesia 1999 
38 
THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR CORAL REEF MANAGEMENT IN INDONESIA: 
AN OVERVIEW 
Sri Yudawati Cahyarini (1), Siti Rochimah (2) 
(1) Magister student of Geodesy Dept, Bandung Institute of Technology and Staff of Geotechnology R & D Centre, Indonesian Institute of 
Sciences, Komplek LIPI Sangkuriang Gd.70 Bandung 40135 Indonesia , ph. 62-22-2503654, fax. 62-22-2504593, rini251@cyberlib.itb.ac.id. 
(2) Department of Informatics, Bandung Institute of Technology, Jl.Ganesha 10 Bandung 40132 Indonesia, ph.62-22-2508135, fax. 62-22- 
2502746, siti@informatika.org 
ABSTRACT 
Coral reefs give many advantages for human being since their ecosystem is the most productive area in the oceans. The present status 
of coral reef in Indonesia required great concern. Good management of Indonesian coral reefs will be needed to keep the ecosystem 
from damage. Information about Indonesian coral reef management tends to be separated, collected in different scales with different 
parameters, stored at different locations and difficult to access. The support of information technology gives an alternative solution to 
reduce those problems. The paper discusses the importance of information technology for coral reef management in Indonesia. 
INTRODUCTION 
The coral reef ecosystem is a marine ecosystem that involves 
different kinds of habitat. Coral reef ecosystems give many 
advantages for human beings because the ecosystem is the most 
productive area in the oceans. Economically coral reefs supply 
fish which are used as foods, and beach sand resources which 
are used as building materials. It also can be used for 
pharmaceutical industry and beach protection. The coral reef 
ecosystem is also a beautiful place in the world and it is very 
important for tourism. 
In Indonesia, millions of people depend on the reef for food and 
livelihood. As much as 90% of animal protein consumed comes 
from marine resources (IUCN,1993). Tire potential sustainable 
yield of fish, crustaceans, and molluscs from the coral reef 
could be some 10%-12%, which is around 9 millions ton of the 
world fisheries catch. The present status of coral reefs in 
Indonesia requires a great concern. Only 6,41% of the reef areas 
are in excellent condition (Suharsono, 1998). Most of the 
damage coral reef is from human effect. Uncontrolled used of 
the coral reef ecosystem leads to rapidly increasing damage. 
Figure 1 shows the human activity that caused faster damage on 
coral reef. 
Figure 1. Coral mining activity which could make 
faster damage on coral reef, (photo by Fadil) 
Protecting coral reef from their damage, Indonesia government 
launch Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Programs, 
which is aimed to manage the sustainable utilization of coral 
reef resources in order to increase the prosperity. The program 
involved five components i.e locally based management, 
enforcement and policy coor-dination, human resources 
develop-ment and institutional strengthening, information and 
research, and public awareness. Besides, Indonesia has also 
established marine protected area, including coral reef 
conservation, sanctuary and marine park. In the national level, 
Indonesia has established a number of regulation and policy 
which is related to marine and coastal resources ma- nagement. 
One important aspect in marine and coastal resources 
management is coral reef management. It means protection and 
sustainable utilization of coral reefs and associated ecosystems 
in the long term, with improving the welfare of coastal 
communities. This will be needed to reduce destructive effect 
on coral reef from their damage. Successful coral reef 
management requires development of cooperation purpose 
between sectoral institution, private sector and community 
groups to achieve one objective in utilization of the coral reef. 
The government institutions play a key role in management 
since they develop the policies that related in coral reef 
protection and utilization. Thus, developmg coordinated 
policies, and also administrative arrangements will be required 
by government mstitutions. This will be achieved through well- 
distributed, coral reef information. The present information for 
coral reef management still tends to be separated, collected in 
different scales, and with different parameters, stored at 
different locations and difficult to access. It will need to be 
integrated to achieve the successful management of coral reef.