Indonesia/World climate change

Save our seas at climate talks, says oceans conference

Article published on the 2009-05-14 Latest update 2009-05-15 06:51 TU

Divers swim above a bed of damaged staghorn corals off Malaysia's Tioman island in the South China Sea
(Photo: Reuters)

Ministers and officials from more than 70 countries on Thursday called for oceans to be discussed at the next global climate change talks which aim to draw up a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. The call comes from the World Ocean conference, meeting in Manado, Indonesia.

The Manado Ocean Declaration calls for cuts to ocean pollution, funding for sustainable development in poor countries, more research into how climate change affects the seas and the role oceans play in fighting climate change.

But it is non-binding and contains no specific commitments for funding or emissions targets, leading some scientists to claim that it is too weak to combat sea rises and the likely destruction of key species.

And six countries have signed up to the Coral Triangle plan, which aims to take save the seas in south-east Asia.

The initiative, backed by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor, hopes to protect the region from the effects of climate change.

"This conference has been critical in rasing the awareness that climate change has impact on things that maybe we are not realising but that are critical to all of us around the world," says Leda Pet of the WWF network in Indonesia. "And people living in the Coral Triangle certainly need to act now.