As many as 3,000 unnamed islands in Indonesia will be verified and their coordinates will be included in official maps, increasing the total number of islands in the country to 17,000, according to the Geospatial Information Agency (GIA).

The Antara news agency quoted Priyadi Kardono, Head of the GIA, as saying that the verification will include updated information about the area such as a marine life map and biological fauna and flora, assisting in the management of natural resources in the sea.

GIA will map the Indonesian coastal areas as part of the plan to develop 24 national major harbours.

The archipelago country enjoys the world’s second longest coastline after Canada. The country’s coastline increased from 91,000 kilometres to 99,093 kilometres after the latest verification using the 1:250,000 scale.

Kardono said that the length of Indonesian coastline could reach 100,000 kilometres if more detailed scales are applied in mapping the coastal areas.-VNA