Mataram, the University of Mataram – the International Relations Study Program of Unram (HI Unram) collaborated with the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Service and the NGO Gili Eco Trust in holding the International Relations Talks 2023 (Ir-Talks 2023) activity on Saturday (23 /9) at the Soebiyanto Unram Building.

The Ir-Talks activity entitles “Embracing Collaborative Action to Preserve Marine Life for a Sustainable Future”. It was carried out to achieve SDGs goal point-14, namely maintaining marine ecosystems in a sustainable manner. The speakers were the Head of the NTB Maritime and Fisheries Service, Muslim S.T., M.Sc. and NGO Representative from Gili Eco Trust, Delphine Robbe.
The first speaker was the Head of the NTB Maritime and Fisheries Service. Muslim S.T., M.Sc. said that the strategic issues in the management of marine and coastal ecosystems in NTB province are the decline in the quality of marine ecosystems due to climate change and human activities, fishing by bombing, and pollution of coastal waters due to careless dumping of rubbish.

“The government of the NTB Maritime and Fisheries Service has made efforts to build a Coastal Ecosystem Restoration and Development Center (PRPEP) with the aim of providing educational facilities on how to protect and preserve marine ecosystems. “The construction of this restoration center has been carried out in various areas in NTB, one of which is the development of mangrove eco-tourism in the East Lombok region, specifically in Jerowaru,” he explained.
Apart from that, Muslim also said that collaboration had been carried out with NGOs in NTB with the aim of being able to make a major contribution to regional development performance in NTB Province through harmonious collaboration with NGOs. “Let’s make our contribution to maintaining the marine ecosystem in NTB, students must also be open in carrying out activities that can make the marine ecosystem more stable,” he concluded.

Furthermore, the second speaker, NGO Gili Eco Trust, Delphine Robbe said that the sea is one of the largest oxygen producers in the world; therefore every living creature must be able to maintain and preserve the marine ecosystem so that it remains stable. In this discussion, Delphine said that Indonesia is a beautiful country that has many islands, but often many fishermen and people carry out fish bombing which causes baby fish to die.

“It is important for us to protect coral reefs, because coral reefs are places where fish spawn and place their eggs on the coral reef. “Gili Eco Trust has also made several efforts to create more coral reefs in the sea, especially on Gili, by installing hoses which over time will make the coral reefs grow faster,” explained Delphine.

At the end of his presentation, Delphine invited all the participants present to come see how Gili Eco Trust protects and preserves the marine environment for a sustainable future.

Ir-Talks 2023 was followed by a discussion session, through this activity, it is hoped that it can become a forum for exchanging insights that can be carried out to protect and preserve the marine ecosystem in NTB. This Ir-Talks activity is also very important to hold again in the future so that it can provide solutions to current problems.