Ministerial level talks at the World Ocean Conference are expected to lead to the adoption of the Manado Ocean Declaration (MOD) on Thursday, to urge the United Nations to integrate ocean issues in the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December.

Senior officials from 80 developed and developing countries have reached an agreement on the crucial role oceans play in climate change, after two days of intensive talks at the WOC.

“In principle, senior officials from all countries at the WOC meeting have agreed on the draft of the MOD,” Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi said Wednesday after opening the Global Ocean Policy Day (GOPD), a side event at the WOC.

“Amendments to the MOD are just a matter of ‘wording’” and comprises about 20 points, he said.Freddy said the officials’ meeting had also agreed on the need for adaptation funds and technology transfer to help developing countries deal with climate change impacts, as drafted in the MOD.

He added the meeting had also agreed on a road map proposed by Indonesia to promote ocean issues at climate change talks before the December talks.

The Copenhagen climate conference – which carries the tag “Seal the Deal” – will bring together world delegates to adopt a new commitment on emissions cuts to replace the existing Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The Kyoto Protocol requires developed nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by about 5 percent to stabilize carbon in the atmosphere, with the main culprits being the energy and forestry sectors.

Indonesia, one of the largest ocean countries, said it was time to also treat the oceans as carbon sinks.

The declaration will be tabled at the 30th session of the United Nations Framework Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) in Bonn, Germany, in June. More meetings will follow, again in Bonn in August, then in Bangkok in October, before winding up in Copenhagen.

The UNFCCC is an international treaty on environmental issues related primarily to climate change and rolling back global warming.

About 400 climate scientists at the GOPD acknowledged the crucial role oceans played in climate change.

They include Stephen R. Palumbi from Stanford University, Wang Yamin from Shandong University in Weihai, China, and Jo Ann Leong from the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.

Prior to the opening of the WOC, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono arrived at the Grand Kawanua main venue for a final check.

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