POLITICAL WILL NEEDED TO SAVE CORAL REEFS : EXPERT

Jakarta, May 5 (ANTARA) - The political will of world leaders, especially those who will attend the upcoming World Ocean Conference (WOC) 2009, is needed to help save coral reefs, an expert said.

"Preservation of oral reefs is possible if the world's decision-makers, especially those at ministerial level, have the political will to do so ," Kurnaen Sumadiharga, an oceanographer of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said here on Tuesday.

In the future, whoever controlled natural resources would be the world's leaders, he said.

Therefore, the world's natural resources must be saved before they were mismanaged, he said.

The Indonesian government must encourage the people to love the country's seas as a source of life, he said.

"Most of Indonesia's territory consists of waters, therefore this nation must love the seas as a life source," he said.

He said the government must also have coral reef maps in order to prevent coral reef destruction with the help of traditional fishermen whose livelihoods depended on the seas.

The scientist also hoped that participants of the upcoming WOC and the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Summit could make a strong commitment to coral reef preservation.

About 2,900 participants from 121 countries are expected to take part in the WOC and the CTI Summit, and associated events, to be held in Manado, North Sulawesi, May 11-15 this year.

The WOC is expected to build a commitment to sustainable management of marine resources and will be themed "The Impact of Climate Change on Oceans and The Role of Oceans in Climate Change".

On May 15, six countries grouped in CT-6 (Coral Triangle-6) will hold the CTI Summit also in Manado. Australia and the United States will attend the Summit as observers.
Leaders of the CT-6 member countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor Leste) are expected to issue a Regional Action Plan.

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