UNESCO to immediately establish Regional Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, as world biosphere reserve.
Wakatobi Regent, Hugua, said the UN agency that houses the fields of education and culture will convene set Wakatobi as world biosphere reserve in Paris in April 2012.
He also said there are three interests protected by UNESCO in setting Wakatobi as the center of world biosphere reserve, the indigenous people of Wakatobi, environmental sustainability, and economic interests of a sustainable society.
Local knowledge is protected in Wakatobi regarding cultural traditions of Wakatobi people in their treatment of nature and take something from God. While environmental sustainability need to be protected, because the waters has a diversity of coral reefs and marine life which is quite high compared to other regions in the world.
Number of species of coral reefs in Wakatobi marine waters reached 750 species, 850 species of coral reef in the world. Caribbean Sea has only 50 species of coral, while the Red Sea only 300 species.
Hugua said that the Wakatobi marine waters, with an area of approximately 1.5 million acres, saving natural resources of marine waters, about 90 percent of the total potential of marine resources in the whole world.
The Indonesian government through the Ministry of Forestry since 1996 has set the Wakatobi marine waters, covering 1.3 million hectares, as the Wakatobi National Marine Park area.
Before the Wakatobi Marine Waters, UNESCO has also established seven sites in Indonesia as a World Biosphere Reserve. The seven sites are Cibodas (West Java), Komodo (NTT), Lore Lindu (Sulawesi), Tanjung Putting (Central Kalimantan), Gunung Leuser (Aceh and North Sumatra), Siberut (West Sumatra), and Giam Siak Kecil - Bukit Batu (Riau).
