Climate body to bring ocean issues to UN

Adianto P. Simamora ,  THE JAKARTA POST ,  JAKARTA   |  Fri, 05/08/2009 1:21 PM  |  National

Moves to promote ocean issues at world climate change talks have gained more support with the Climate Change National Council (DNPI) pledging to take the resolutions from next week's Manado conference to official negotiations ahead of a meeting in December.

Executive chairman of the DNPI Rachmat Witoelar has sent a letter to Maritime Affairs and Fishery Minister Freddy Numberi in support of the first-ever World Ocean Conference (WOC).

"Any declarations agreed upon in Manado should be promoted in discussions on climate change leading up to the Copenhagen meeting," Rachmat said in the letter.

Negotiators from almost all UN member-states are scheduled to meet at four sessions to draft the new commitment on emission cuts, which should be agreed upon in Copenhagen in December 2009.

The first two sessions will take place in Bonn meetings from June 1 to June 12, and from August 10 to August 14 respectively. The third sessions is set in Bangkok from Sept. 28 to Oct 9 while the last will be held in November, though the venue has not yet been decided upon.

WOC national organizing secretary Indroyono Susilo said Indonesia would work hard to push ocean management on the world agenda for tackling climate change.

"Pak Rachmat and Minister Freddy also agreed to propose integrating the Manado Ocean Declaration into the Governing Council of the United Nation Development Program (UNDP)," he said.

Minister Freddy has lobbied international bodies, including the UN Environmental Program, to include ocean issues in its formal agenda. He has pushed for international states to "pay" for carbon absorbed in the oceans in an effort to protect the environment and secure food sources.

"Carbon in oceans should be treated the same way as carbon in the forest," said Indroyono.

Indonesia, the host of the 2007 Bali climate change conference, played a key role in persuading global nations to include carbon from forest's in emission reduction programs.

Possessing the third largest area of forests in the world, with about 120 million hectares of rainforest, Indonesia initiated the establishment of a forest nation group (F11) to lobby the United Nations to include forests as a means of meeting emissions targets.

Indonesia has said that once the "reducing emission deforestation and degradation scheme" (REDD) has been agreed upon in Copenhagen, it will reap fresh funding from protecting its forest.

Minister Freddy said that Indonesian oceans could absorb around 25 million tons of carbon dioxide every year, the main contributor to global warming.

The DNPI, set up by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last year, is assigned with negotiating climate-related issues in international negotiations.

The WOC will be held between May 11 and May 16. Manado will also host an International Symposium on Ocean Science, Technology and Policy, a Global Ocean Policy Day, and an International Ocean Science, Technology and Industry Exhibition.

Indroyono said that delegates from nearly 70 countries and international institutions had confirmed they would be attending the conference.

"As of May 7, more than 1,500 participants, including foreign and local journalists, had registered online to attend the WOC," he told The Jakarta Post from Manado on Thursday.

Six heads of states from the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) member countries have also confirmed they will attend the event.

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