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60196
Tue, 05/12/2009 - 17:09
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https://www.oananews.org//node/60196
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News Focus: WOC EXPECTED TO PRODUCE MANADO OCEAN DECLARATION AS POLITICAL COMMITMENT By Eliswan Azly
Jakarta, May 11, (ANTARA) - The ongoing World Ocean Conference (WOC) in Manado, the capital city of North Sulawesi, is expected to produce the Manado Ocean Declaration (MOD) at the end of the conference as a political commitment among nations wishing to promote the ocean in international conventions.
Prof Dr Emil Salim, a former Indonesian environmental affairs minister said on the sidelines of the WOC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) in Manado on Monday that the MOD would be an international political agreement to always include the sea in international conventions on climate change.
"It will be an international political agreement that the sea must always be included in international conventions on climate change," he said.
Emil further said that after a political commitment was made, emphasis had then to be placed on saving the sea through cooperation in the coral reef triangle.
World experts who attended the marine symposium here had to develop special knowledge and technology for application in the area, he said.
Until now there had been three international conventions related to global warming but focusing on land, soil and earth issues and did not specifically touched sea issues.
He said discussions on sea issues were lagging behind, and therefore not many people were aware that the sea absorbed carbon, was a source of food and a potential source of energy.
"So if in the long run the capacity of land to absorb carbon is declining, the usefulness of the sea must be increased," the former environment minister said.
He said the biggest enemy of the world in saving the sea was constant fishing, including by using explosives and poison.
He said the next move would be taking the MOD to Copenhagen to assure that carbon sink was as important as forests.
Sharing Emil Salim's view was Edy Pratomo, chairman of the WOC Senior Officials Meeting who said the Manado Ocean Declaration (MOD) to be issued by the World Ocean Conference (WOC) was expected to contribute inputs to the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in Copenhagen.
The objective of issuing the MOD at the ongoing World Ocean Conference being held in Manado, May 11-15, was to have an important foundation for efforts to save the oceans and seas which needed to be discussed at international level, he said.
The role of the oceans and seas as a carbon sink was hardly discussed in international meetings, including in previous UNFCCC meetings, such as the last UNFCCC meeting in Bali in 2007, he said.
The Indonesian government has offered MOD to WOC participants. The declaration would also include the an establishment of funds for sea management.
On the sidelines of the WOC, a Google Ocean was launched to give access to information on the sea condition to the public.
Around 70 percent of the earth surface was covered by water, and only five percent of the sea had been studied, Pratomo said.
Google Ocean was launched during a symposium on International Ocean Science, Technology and Industry.
In response to a political commitment like a joint agreement in the form of the Manado Ocean Declaration, Arief Rachman as chairman of the Indonesian National Commission for UNESCO expressed optimism the ongoing World Ocean Conference would yield a global agreement on world marine issues.
"WOC is just the beginning and thus we have to be optimistic about its outcome," he said
Through the World Ocean Conference, he said, a joint agreement was expected to be reached to mitigate the negative impact of climate change on the sea around the world.
"The impact of climate change can be reduced by controlling the quality of our seas," Arief Rachman said, adding that UNESCO through the Intergovernmental Oceanography Commission (IOC) was taking part in the WOC to make sure that there would be a good coordination on world marine issues.
He said IOC had a role to play among others to protect the quality of the sea in Indonesia, to exploit wisely the world's marine resources, and to see if the law of the sea at local, national, and international levels was relevant to environmental preservation.
"IOC also tries to include a number of undersea nature preserves such as Bunaken in North Sulawesi and Raja Ampat in Papua in Natural World Heritage," Arief Rachman said.
He said that through the WOC, the younger generation would be motivated to occupy themselves with marine issues and the government should support them in conducing marine research work.
"The seas have no boundary and therefore they need joint global coordination," he said.
Again Emil Salim and another environmentalist, Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, stressed that through the ongoing WOC, the marine issue should be included in the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) agenda in Copenhagen in December, 2009.
"Through the World Ocean Conference, we hope marine issues can be included in the IPCC meeting in Copenhagen in December this year," Emil Salim said.
Emil Salim admitted that marine issues had been given little attention at international meetings on climate change and bio-diversity.
He said that although the seas had great potentials to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), the issue was frequently ignored at international meetings on bio-diversity and climate change.
In addition, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi at the World Ocean Conference also hoped that marine issues could as well be included in the IPCC agenda.
According to them, the sea has an important role to play in climate stability and therefore researches on it were frequently conducted but the issue was less discussed than forest role at international meetings on environmental safety.
***3***
Prof Dr Emil Salim, a former Indonesian environmental affairs minister said on the sidelines of the WOC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) in Manado on Monday that the MOD would be an international political agreement to always include the sea in international conventions on climate change.
"It will be an international political agreement that the sea must always be included in international conventions on climate change," he said.
Emil further said that after a political commitment was made, emphasis had then to be placed on saving the sea through cooperation in the coral reef triangle.
World experts who attended the marine symposium here had to develop special knowledge and technology for application in the area, he said.
Until now there had been three international conventions related to global warming but focusing on land, soil and earth issues and did not specifically touched sea issues.
He said discussions on sea issues were lagging behind, and therefore not many people were aware that the sea absorbed carbon, was a source of food and a potential source of energy.
"So if in the long run the capacity of land to absorb carbon is declining, the usefulness of the sea must be increased," the former environment minister said.
He said the biggest enemy of the world in saving the sea was constant fishing, including by using explosives and poison.
He said the next move would be taking the MOD to Copenhagen to assure that carbon sink was as important as forests.
Sharing Emil Salim's view was Edy Pratomo, chairman of the WOC Senior Officials Meeting who said the Manado Ocean Declaration (MOD) to be issued by the World Ocean Conference (WOC) was expected to contribute inputs to the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in Copenhagen.
The objective of issuing the MOD at the ongoing World Ocean Conference being held in Manado, May 11-15, was to have an important foundation for efforts to save the oceans and seas which needed to be discussed at international level, he said.
The role of the oceans and seas as a carbon sink was hardly discussed in international meetings, including in previous UNFCCC meetings, such as the last UNFCCC meeting in Bali in 2007, he said.
The Indonesian government has offered MOD to WOC participants. The declaration would also include the an establishment of funds for sea management.
On the sidelines of the WOC, a Google Ocean was launched to give access to information on the sea condition to the public.
Around 70 percent of the earth surface was covered by water, and only five percent of the sea had been studied, Pratomo said.
Google Ocean was launched during a symposium on International Ocean Science, Technology and Industry.
In response to a political commitment like a joint agreement in the form of the Manado Ocean Declaration, Arief Rachman as chairman of the Indonesian National Commission for UNESCO expressed optimism the ongoing World Ocean Conference would yield a global agreement on world marine issues.
"WOC is just the beginning and thus we have to be optimistic about its outcome," he said
Through the World Ocean Conference, he said, a joint agreement was expected to be reached to mitigate the negative impact of climate change on the sea around the world.
"The impact of climate change can be reduced by controlling the quality of our seas," Arief Rachman said, adding that UNESCO through the Intergovernmental Oceanography Commission (IOC) was taking part in the WOC to make sure that there would be a good coordination on world marine issues.
He said IOC had a role to play among others to protect the quality of the sea in Indonesia, to exploit wisely the world's marine resources, and to see if the law of the sea at local, national, and international levels was relevant to environmental preservation.
"IOC also tries to include a number of undersea nature preserves such as Bunaken in North Sulawesi and Raja Ampat in Papua in Natural World Heritage," Arief Rachman said.
He said that through the WOC, the younger generation would be motivated to occupy themselves with marine issues and the government should support them in conducing marine research work.
"The seas have no boundary and therefore they need joint global coordination," he said.
Again Emil Salim and another environmentalist, Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, stressed that through the ongoing WOC, the marine issue should be included in the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) agenda in Copenhagen in December, 2009.
"Through the World Ocean Conference, we hope marine issues can be included in the IPCC meeting in Copenhagen in December this year," Emil Salim said.
Emil Salim admitted that marine issues had been given little attention at international meetings on climate change and bio-diversity.
He said that although the seas had great potentials to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), the issue was frequently ignored at international meetings on bio-diversity and climate change.
In addition, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi at the World Ocean Conference also hoped that marine issues could as well be included in the IPCC agenda.
According to them, the sea has an important role to play in climate stability and therefore researches on it were frequently conducted but the issue was less discussed than forest role at international meetings on environmental safety.
***3***
