20 LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS RECEIVED BAF FUND
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Date:
30 Apr 2020 -
Author:
KEHATI
Blue Abadi Fund (BAF) gives funding to 20 local organizations in West Papua in 2019 from their 2nd cycle to create the sustainability of bird’s head seascape management. The BAF grant received by 20 local institutions to support West Papua conservation was given by Yayasan KEHATI (KEHATI) as an administrator for the BAF grant.
Sorong Office Coordinator Yayasan KEHATI, Eddy Sahputra said that the 20 local partners had signed the contract on 21st March 2019. He said that the BAF 2nd cycle grant that has RP25.2 billion commitment is ready to be disbursed to the local partners, so they can start their own program.
He also said that the BAF program supports the West Papua Province as a conservation province that has been stated by the West Papua Governor on 19th October 2015. He explained, bird’s head seascape comprises more than 22 million hectares in West Papua, including Cendrawasih Bay, Raja Ampat, Fakfak, and Kaimana.
According to him, these areas are the heart of the Coral Triangle and the global epicenter of marine biodiversity with the highest coral reef biodiversity for any area its size in the world. It also a place for 75% of the world’s corals species. But he emphasizes that this seascape faces a threat of the loss of its charismatic species.
“This threat is not only an ecological threat but also a threat for the people that live in the area,” He said. The Bird’s Head Seascape collaboration management started in 2001 by the Conservation International (CI) Indonesia, The Nature Conservancy (TNC, and WWF-Indonesia that built the partnership with local partners, government, and university.
He added, in February 2017, that consortium launched the BAF Program as a long term and sustainable funding model for Bird’s Head Seascape management. As a fund manager, Yayasan KEHATI has disbursed more than RP26 billion on the 1st cycle, which was started in July 2017 to December 2018 to 23 partners.
“On the launching of the BAF 2nd cycle, total fund commitments are around RP25.2 billion that will be distributed to 20 local partners in West Papua. Fund support for the 2nd cycle came from the USAID grant to BAF through CI”, he said.