Raja Ampat Regency, Southwest Papua Province, West Papua Indonesia is not only famous for the natural beauty of its small islands, but also for the marine life that lives in the world’s coral reef triangle. The Raja Ampat Islands are a series of four adjacent island groups and are located in the western part of the Bird’s Head West Papua, on the Bird’s Head Peninsula or the plains of West Papua Province and Papua Province.

The Raja Ampat Islands are under the administrative management of Raja Ampat Regency, West Papua Province. Raja Ampat consists of 610 islands, of which only 35 are inhabited. Meanwhile, 80 percent of the Raja Ampat area is covered by clear blue seas which are rich in underwater life, especially coral reefs. Raja Ampat is the heart of the World Coral Triangle. With a proportion of 80 percent of the Raja Ampat area being water, and rich in underwater life, especially coral reefs, this area is included in the world’s coral triangle.

The world’s coral reef triangle in the Raja Ampat Islands is 1.6 percent of the ocean area on planet Earth covering an area of 5.7 square kilometers which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and East Leste. It is called the coral triangle, because if you draw a virtual line that encloses the coral reefs in these countries, a triangle will be formed. The coral reef triangle area holds more natural wealth in the form of marine species than any body of water on earth and is home to 76 percent of all coral reef species, as well as 37 percent of all coral reef fish species in the world.

The coral reef triangle area is also said to have the largest expanse of mangrove forests in the world. Meanwhile, based on Oceanographic data from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency, the area of Indonesia’s coral reefs reaches 39,583 square km or around 45.7 percent of the total 86,503 square km of coral reefs in the coral triangle region with the highest peak of biodiversity between another 590 species of rock coral and species of coral fish. The location of the Raja Ampat coral reef triangle also has 75 percent of all mangrove or mangrove species throughout the world, and 45 percent of seaweed species.

Director of the Indonesia Climate Change Trust Fund (ICCTF), Tonny Wagey, said that in the world’s coral reef triangle, not only does Raja Ampat have coral reefs, but what is unique is that the Raja Ampat area is the middle point or center. “Why did we choose Raja Ampat and need it to be protected? “Because here is the coral reef triangle area (of the world), there are more than 500 species (of coral reefs), and the center point (center) is here, Raja Ampat,” said Tonny. Raja Ampat is located at the epicenter of the coral reef triangle region which is the center of marine biodiversity, and Raja Ampat is considered the heart of tropical marine diversity.

The function of the Raja Ampat coral reef triangle is that it is estimated that the sea in Raja Ampat has 553 types of coral and is home to more than 70 percent of the coral species in the world. Not only that, it is also home to 1,456 types of coral fish which makes the Raja Ampat Islands the area with the highest diversity of coral fish species in the world.

There are also 699 types of molluscs, 5 types of turtles and 16 types of marine mammals (cetaceans). Among the 699 types of molluscs, 530 are snails (gastropods), 159 shellfish (bivalvae), 2 Scaphoda, 5 squid (cephalopods) and 3 chitons. Based on Conservation and Marine Biodiversity records, the Directorate General of Marine Spatial Management of the Indonesian Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, the Raja Ampat coral reef ecosystem stretches on shallow shelves on almost all of the islands.

However, the largest are in the districts of West Waigeo, South Waigeo, Ayau, Samate and South East Misool. The type of coral reef found in the Raja Ampat Islands is generally a fringe reef, with a fairly steep slope. Apart from that, there are also types of ring coral reefs (atolls) and barrier reefs (barrier reefs). “Raja Ampat is the bulls eye of the world’s coral reef triangle, the region with the highest biota diversity in the coral reef triangle area. “Even though the area is less than 1 percent of the world’s oceans, its impact is very significant,” he explained.

“Raja Ampat is the Amazon Forest in the Ocean, because six of the seven types of turtles that are threatened with extinction can still be found in Raja Ampat waters,” he added. Apart from that, there are also 17 other world marine mammal species in the area, and the people around the area still depend on fishing for fish around the coral reefs for their livelihood.

If coral reefs are well maintained, marine biota including coral fish will be able to live well and reproduce massively. On the other hand, if coral reefs are damaged or deliberately damaged by human activities themselves, then humans will also suffer losses. Damaged coral reefs will not be pretty to look at, no tourists will want to visit, even though the Raja Ampat Islands area is one of the water tourist attractions that is most popular with local residents and tourists.

As a result, damaged coral reefs will also cause fish and coral biota to leave or even worse, they can die, so fishermen will have difficulty finding fish again. Where 80 percent of the people of Raja Ampat Regency are fishermen. “If we don’t take care of it and don’t do it now, the biggest impact will be on us,” he explained.

Not only for aquatic creatures, coral reefs are also a source of protein for humans through the fish that grow large in this area. In Indonesia, around 60 percent of animal protein is obtained from fish. This means that around 120 million people depend on fish supplies in the waters as their food source. This does not include a source of income of 2.4 million US dollars from the fishing business and 12 million USD from the tourism business in Southeast Asia, including Komodo Island and the Raja Ampat Islands. In this way, the broad function of coral reefs is to maintain the balance of natural ecosystems, maintain environmental health, have sociological, economic and sustainable impacts on community life.