Indonesia is an archipelagic country with more than 17,000 islands scattered across the country. Unique ecosystems, such as mangrove and coral reefs that have a very important ecological function, can be found in coastal area along with highly diverse species. Coastal area is also place for many major cities, while small islands became tourist destination. Human activities in these areas have generated pressure to the coastal resources and environment sustainability, (e.g.: the emerging unmanaged waste in major cities and tourist destination, which leaked to the ocean, then drifted, dispersed, and stranded in other shores). This study aims to identify various waste management practices in selected sites of small islands (e.g.: Pulo Aceh, Seribu, Karimunjawa, Wakatobi), where they have limited resources to managed waste. The result indicated that waste management practices in each place are vary, adjusted with their specific condition (e.g.: total population, daily waste generation, and availability of waste processing technology). Local community have adopted number of techniques to manage domestic waste, as well as stranded marine debris in their island. Based on the field observation, the key success factors of waste management in small islands will depend on the involvement of local community, good collaboration among stakeholders, also output of waste processing practice should bring direct and indirect benefit for the society, low-cost, and eco-friendly.

Banten Bay is a 150 km2 sea area which includes the waterfront of Serang City in Banten Province, Indonesia with several large rivers flowing into the Bay. The rapid development of industrial and commerce surrounds this bay added with population growth in Serang City have caused environmental problems. For instance, there has been a surge in the volume of domestic and industrial waste that has been dumped along several rivers and finally leaked into Banten Bay. This study aimed to spatially visualize the existing waste flow from residential area to the location of landfills in order to assist the local government in evaluating their waste management system, and to help prevent the waste leaking into Banten Bay and even further beyond. By using hydrodynamic modelling and ground truthing, we can predict the potential waste hotspots and the seasonal patterns of marine debris around Banten Bay and its surroundings. The results show that plastic litter originating from the Cibanten River will drift to the west during the east monsoon and will move to the east during the west monsoon. Based on this evidence, plastic litter from the Cibanten River estuary has the potential to spread further towards the Sunda Strait during the east monsoon and into Jakarta Bay during the west monsoon. We encourage cooperation among local governments in Banten and West Java throughout the watershed as well as with the Jakarta Provincial Government to establish an integrated waste management system to prevent the waste leakage.

Marine debris has been considered a global environmental issue, yet its impacts on each country are varied. Indonesia as an archipelagic country comprises thousands of islands and vast marine territory. The marine debris has threatened many sectors, such as marine endangered species protection, coastal ecosystem, and human livelihood (e.g., sea transportation, tourism, fisheries). The government of Indonesia has implemented various efforts to address this marine debris issue, which include applying recent methods and prototypes from global partners. Based on these approaches, we learn that there are three key success factors to clean marine debris in a very large area of Indonesia, i.e.: good understanding of marine debris dispersion in Indonesian water, sufficient budget, and good coordination among stakeholders. Hence, the Marine Research Centre developed a prototype vessel design in 2021 to manage marine debris, particularly surround small islands, which in Indonesia is called “Kapal Insinerator Sampah” or Debris Incinerator Vessel (DIV). This vessel will focus on managing the waste generated by local inhabitants and marine debris stranded on small islands.

Seaweed is one of the fisheries commodities, which has been proven to improve the household income of coastal and small island communities in Indonesia for the last two decades. The global need for seaweed is rising, since it is used as a raw material for many industries, i.e.: food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, livestock feed, and fertilizers. These factors have encouraged the Government of Indonesia to increase the quantity and quality of seaweed commodities until it reaches a strategic position in the fisheries sector. One of the efforts in enhancing the data and information reliability, which will support all business actors from upstream to downstream; to accelerate the industrialization and production, resource sustainability, and improving the welfare of coastal and small island communities. This paper aims to provide an overview of the concept and design of seaweed information systems, based on the principles of traceability, sustainability, production process improvement, and system integration. It is expected that business actors, resources managers, and policymakers will take advantage of information system, where reliable data and information can be accessed easily in real-time.