INREEF: Resilience of the Richest Reefs

Andries Richter, Titan Setyawan, Intan Adhi, Yustina Wambrauw, C. Desta Pratama, Tobia De Scisciolo
Jan 1, 2021

Tourism is a double-edged sword for marine protected areas (MPAs). Visitors put pressure on coral reefs through crowding, sewage and pollution, yet tourism revenues can also pay for conservation and support local livelihoods. INREEF, an interdisciplinary research and education programme funded by the Wageningen Interdisciplinary Research and Education Fund (INREF), brings together Indonesian, Dutch and Caribbean researchers, conservation organisations and policymakers to understand how fluctuating tourism, together with climate change, fishing and pollution, affects the health of coral reefs, the livelihoods and cohesion of coastal communities, and their capacity to govern their reefs. Its aim is to develop tools to assess and monitor the resilience of MPAs, and to design governance measures that protect coral reefs in an era of changing tourism and climate.

Low tide near Nusa Lembongan, Bali
Low tide near Nusa Lembongan, Bali, where tourism, local livelihoods and coastal ecosystems meet. March 2024.

EconSES focuses on the human side of reef resilience, through several PhD projects. They ask how policy can govern pollution flows as tourist numbers rise and fall, who bears the costs and who reaps the benefits of MPAs, how these effects play out along local food chains and between women and men, how land and sea tenure can secure stable, long-term support for conservation through tourism, and how tourism, MPAs and reef health are linked in the Dutch Caribbean.

INREEF fieldwork discussion at the mangroves of Nusa Lembongan
INREEF researchers and local partners discussing during fieldwork at the mangroves of Nusa Lembongan, Bali, March 2024.

More about the programme, the full team and its publications is available on the INREEF website.

Marine Systems Ongoing
Andries Richter
Andries Richter
Associate Professor

My research focuses on the economics of social–ecological systems, using theoretical models, causal empirical methods, and economic experiments to understand how institutions and human behavior affect the sustainable management of natural resources.

Titan Setyawan
Titan Setyawan

My research interests include distributed robotics, mobile computing and programmable matter.

Yustina Wambrauw
Yustina Wambrauw
PhD Candidate

My research interests include distributed robotics, mobile computing and programmable matter.

C. Desta Pratama
C. Desta Pratama

My research explores how institutional roles and blue finance structures influence fund allocation, conservation performance, and sustainable financing mechanisms for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Indonesia.