TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Saving our ocean
The first ever World Ocean Conference (WOC) begins today to be followed with the Coral Triangle Initiatives (CTI) on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security Inaugural Summit in Manado, North Sulawesi
The first ever World Ocean Conference (WOC) begins today to be followed with the Coral Triangle Initiatives (CTI) on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security Inaugural Summit in Manado, North Sulawesi. Some 3,500 participants from 120 countries are expected to attend the event.
The government has ensured that all infrastructure in a city previously only known for its Bunaken marine park will be ready for the May 11-15 event. The fact that water covers 72 percent of the world's surface shows the significance of the event.
The WOC will focus on the Manado Ocean Declaration, which calls on those managing adaptation programs to consider the provisions for funding so as to integrate coastal and ocean management into the context of climate change. The declaration also stresses the need to promote the transfer of environmentally sound technologies for oceans from developed countries to developing countries to help the latter mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Indonesia hopes to convince the United Nations to adopt the declaration in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Copenhagen by the end of the year. Indonesia argues the ocean has the ability to absorb carbon and should therefore be included in the UNFCCC. With the country's 5.8 million square kilometers of sea, the water could absorb around 245 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year.
Besides the WOC, Indonesia and five other countries grouped in the CTI - Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste - will not only talk about preserving coral reefs, but will also discuss the role of the coral triangle as an abundant resource of tuna. If the six countries are able to maintain the coral triangle conditions, they will receive a multi-billion US dollar benefit from the tuna industry.
Food security is another factor of focus at the CTI. Despite abundant resources, the coral triangle faces threats from overfishing and destruction of marine life from pollution and increasing demands for fish and marine resources.
We hope marine experts can contribute their research and ideas to help keep the ocean safe. Our seas have long suffered from mankind's ignorance; it is time to recognize their importance.
