NCSU grad takes Sea Grant
concept home to Indonesia

An NC State alumnus is using his experiences here to benefit people half a world away.

Courtesy of Becky Kirkland CALS Communication Services

Widi A. Pratikto, left, talks with his former professor, Margery Overton, during a campus visit on Wednesday, June 1.

Widi A. Pratikto, who received his doctorate in civil engineering from NC State in 1992, currently serves as director general of coasts and small islands in the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. While at NC State, Pratikto’s education was funded in part by the Sea Grant program – and he anticipates the Sea Grant model will help Indonesia recover from a devastating tsunami that took place on Dec. 26.

Nearly 127,000 people died and about 94,500 people are listed as missing in Aceh and North Sumatra provinces on the island of Sumatra. About 500,000 people have been displaced, the United Nations reports. Initial efforts have focused on providing food, shelter, medical and other services to survivors. Now, with plans in place for a new main road to be built five kilometers from the island’s west coast, the government is looking at other recovery efforts.

Pratikto hopes that these secondary efforts – including those aimed at prediction of and loss prevention from all coastal hazards, such as storm surges and cyclones – can be better implemented through the growing Sea Partnership Program (SPP).

North Carolina Sea Grant is part of a network of 30 programs around the United States that link university researchers, government, and local communities in order to promote responsible use of marine and Great Lakes resources. Research areas include everything from fisheries, aquaculture and water quality to coastal development policy and hurricane resistant construction. Pratikto witnessed the positive impact of the Sea Grant when he was at NC State, and knew that Indonesia would benefit from such a program.

Soon after Pratikto assumed his current government position, he intensified his efforts to get a program similar to the Sea Grant up and running. The result was SPP – Pratikto’s and the Indonesian government’s efforts to link local universities and communities to promote the sustainable use of coastal resources.

The Indonesian parliament established the SPP in 2002, and the first five university-based regional centers were established in 2003. In 2004, the total grew to 12. This year the total is 19, including new centers in Aceh and North Sumatra. Recently, governments from Thailand, Malaysia and Sumatra have expressed interest in establishing local programs similar to the SPP.

During his recent visit to North Carolina, Pratikto spoke at NC State and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington about the current state of the tsunami recovery, providing comparisons and contrasts to North Carolina’s recovery from hurricanes.

He also led a delegation of SPP officials and met with representatives from the North Carolina Sea Grant staff and researchers as well as university, government and community partners. One of the aims of these meetings was to establish an ongoing exchange program between the U.S. Sea Grant network and the SPP. Pratikto hopes that the sharing of research and experience will help aid the recovery from December’s disaster and prevent future events from taking a similar toll.

Posted June 17, 2005

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