Located in the southeast corner of Bali, about two to three hours drive from Denpasar, Amed has a landscape consisting of a series of headlands overlooking bays lined with fishing boats. The local economy is supported by farming cattle and corn, fishing and tourism, mainly snorkeling and diving.
There are about 10-20 dive operators operating in Amed, as well as the many operators based in other areas that have Amed as one of their diving and snorkeling destinations. More than 50 hotels and home-stays are located there to support the underwater activity businesses.
Far away from the bustle of Kuta, this area offers a beautiful landscape both on land and underwater, as well as a relaxing holiday for sea lovers. However, like many places in Indonesia, there is limited effort to manage the coral reef for its sustainability and the benefit of the local people.
The need to reduce the impact of climate change in this area is even more urgent, as the reef is still recovering from a mass-bleaching event in May 2009. The active participation of local stakeholders to care for the reef is the key to buying time against climate change impact. Since 2009, strong interest has been shown in supporting conservation projects by providing an in-kind contribution to host meetings, conduct surveys with provision of boats and tanks, as well as providing
accommodation.
The commitment has been shown through active participation and support for Reef Check when the organization conducted coral bleaching monitoring in the same year.
Since then, the foundation and stakeholders started to jointly carry out various activities, including education on conservation for students, a pilot project for independent funding sources, as well as activities to minimize the threat to the coral reefs, such as providing mooring buoys to prevent anchoring and installing garbage nets in areas between the river and ocean to prevent the garbage from flowing into the ocean.