WOC to promote understanding of oceans-climate change linkage

            Indonesian Marine and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi expressed hope the World Ocean Conference (WOC) ministerial-level meeting will serve as a valuable opportunity for opening the road to better understanding of the linkage between oceans and climate change. "The main purpose of the WOC is to make governments committed to improving the status of oceans in the realm of climate change discussions," the minister told participants of the WOC ministerial meeting here on Thursday.

The commitments would be articulated in the Manado Ocean Declaration which were discussed thoroughly during the WOC Senior Officials` Meeting, he said. The document would be brought to the attention of the ministers and other high-level delegates for adoption later on Thursday, he said. "We also hope that the Manado Ocean Declaration will be discussed during the 15th UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Conference of Parties meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009," he said.

The minister said he believed the shared knowledge, experiences and visions which had been attained in the last three days of the conference which opened on Monday would give participating countries the courage to jointly overcome the impact of climate change in the coming years. "We have all made a bold first step in agreeing to the Manado Ocean Declaration, and will leave this World Ocean Conference with greater hope and optimism that we shall prove equal to the task," he said.

In the past three days more than 73 countries and 12 inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) were involved in a very productive discussion on WOC`s theme about the ocean and climate change, he said. "The impressive number of distinguished representatives and delegates from different countries, NGOs, IGOs, and experts in the fields of marine and climate change have made it possible for us to better understand the challenges before us," he said.

The meeting is expected to come up with an agreement to get the UNFCCC to acknowledge the role of oceans as an alternative in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He said the issue of climate change had been given prominence in the last few years and the world community had found common cause to unite and unify their mitigation and adaptation strategies to cushion its projected impacts, particularly on small island states as well as on the coastal areas of large archipelagic countries.(ANTARA)