The World Ocean Conference (WOC) and the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Summit drew to an end Friday. The selection of Manado as the host city had raised doubt among many people, but the hard work by the government finally paid off, despite some hiccups. The Jakarta Post's Indah Setiawati asked a few participants about what they thought of the event.

Pedro Fernandez Carrasco, professor at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid in Spain:

I am very happy in general with the WOC and its sideline symposiums, but there are a few things that could have been better. The information about the schedule of each room was hard to obtain and there were a lot of changes, which made it difficult to follow presentations from different rooms. There were many presentations on Indonesia but few on abroad. It was OK for me as I want to learn about Indonesia. Having two events of the WOC and the symposiums at two different venues seemed to show that policy and science run in different worlds and that the declaration lacks scientific and public participation.

Dwi Yani S.M., activist at the Pemuteran Karang Lestari Foundation in Bali:

There was no forum discussing the conclusion of topics discussed in the symposiums. The topics should have been more focused on the UNFCC. Besides, the number of hotels are not sufficient yet to accommodate more than 2,000 guests.

Christine L. Huffarad, Conservation International official:

We had some problems with the registration process. Our team of 17 people had been registered online and we had also transferred the money. But when we wanted to re-register ourselves on Monday morning, our names were not listed. The entire process took a whole day. Fortunately, a nice lady at *event organizer* Pacto helped me settle the problem, so it was already done by around 5 p.m.

Reinhard Hohler, a media travel consultant for Thai media:

There should be a city tour courtesy of the committee to introduce Manado. That's what I missed from the conference.

Angelique Bontuna, Bunaken Island site manager at the World Wildlife Fund:

Schedule details for the symposiums were not available the day before. They were only available on the day the sessions were held. I'm disappointed because I didn't get any confirmation until a week before the WOC on whether my abstract was accepted so I could speak at a session of the symposium.

Ram Boojh, a delegate from UNESCO:

I didn't have any problems with the online registration, and I enjoyed the conference. But it's very difficult to get a flight ticket. I have to go back to New Delhi and I don't want to stay any longer here.

Steven Liow, North Sulawesi provincial spokesman:

We encountered some technical problems, like using generators to supply electricity to the area around the WOC venue. I think other problems are understandable because this is the first ever big event we've hosted. We only had two years of preparation. The registration problem in the symposium venue was really beyond our reckoning. We apologize for the flops.

Popular

Is Indonesia really ready to embrace dual citizenship?

Tens of thousands seek better lives in Jakarta. But is the city losing its draw?

Elon Musk's Starlink granted licences to operate in Indonesia