August
One of my unrealized, yet deep desires is to travel... to places very different from my home that has a completely different set of wildlife, culture, environment (manmade or otherwise), atmosphere, and that would provide the experience of a lifetime. Until I can find a way to actually take these trips, I'll be exploring via the web.
This month I'm virtually exploring the coral triangle, the roughly triangular area of the tropical marine waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands andTimor-Leste that contain at least 500 species of reef-building corals in each ecoregion. It is not only vital as the epicenter of marine biodiversity, but also sustains the lives of over 120 million people.
The main draw to this exotic region is eco-tourism. While enjoying the cultures and land environments (aka, exploring local markets, or sipping a cool beverage from a coconut on a sandy beach) sounds like an great time, the real destination is the Amazon of the ocean: the amazing hard and soft coral reefs, which give the coral triangle its name.
If I were an experienced photographer, who also had the talent to dive, I'd head right now to the Philippines, where underwater photographers are being encouraged to explore (and promote) the coastal waters. According to Scuba Dive Magazine it's no wonder why governments are highlighting diving as the top form of eco-tourism. "You want Technicolor soft-coral reefs? You got 'em. Plunging walls? Those too. Not to mention world-class muck dives, big animal encounters, wrecks, shark dives and screaming drifts against a backdrop so diverse and undiscovered that as many as 20 new marine-life species are discovered here each year, says Lida Pet Soede, head of the Coral Triangle program for World Wildlife Fund Indonesia".
Tourism is of course a way to support the economies of the coral triangle, but eco-tourism is new and can be difficult due to energy demands. This April the World Wildlife Fund introduced a Low Carbon Tourism Initiative for the Coral Triangle, which would create "energy efficiency and renewable energy for hotels and resorts and thereby assist the tourism sector in this region to cope with rising costs of energy and the lack of investment capital to run a financially rewarding operation while safeguarding the very ecosystems that this industry heavily relies on". (I am looking to find a list of responsibly planned eco-tourism resorts, if anyone knows where to find, please post!)
This video shows how the health of the coral reef not only affects the fisherman, but consumers of fish such as tuna (1/3 of global tuna in fact). So until I can reach my goal of traveling to the coral triangle, I will have to do my part in preserving it.
1. I'm not much of a meat eater anyhow, but tuna is one of the meats I eat more often- I will be sure to keep myself educated on the progress of tuna fisheries, and avoid eating yellowfin tuna from the coral triangle as it is a threatened species. Also, I eat mostly tuna from a can- I've learned that Rule #1 for sustainable canned tuna: When shopping for “light” tuna, buy pole-and-line or Fish Aggregating Devices-free seined skipjack. Shop at places like Whole Foods & look for brands American Tuna, which are pole & line wild caught. Or online you can find good prices on skipjack canned tuna.
2. Become more aware of my "carbon footprint". Global warming is now affecting coral reefs; the temperature affects the water's acidity and creates coral bleaching.
3. When I do travel to this region I will be sure to make sure that my eco-friendly destination is well planned, as poorly planned eco-tourism can devastate the environment as well.
