Protecting oceans

The first World Ocean Conference in the Indonesian city of Manado is hoped to draw attention to what many experts say has been a much-overlooked aspect of the global response to climate change.

"Basically if you didn't have oceans you wouldn't have a climate... that sort of link and understanding isn't being talked about in climate change discussions," Jacqueline Alder, head of the marine unit of the United Nations Environment Program told news agency AFP.

The conference, which opened Monday and lasts until Friday, has drawn environmental experts, officials and ministers from 120 nations. One of the main aims is to create a forum to coordinate international conservation efforts to counter the impact of rising sea levels and dwindling fish stocks blamed on higher temperatures.

Scientists warn of dramatic consequences

Richard Spinrad of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said scientists are no longer ruling out a rise in sea levels by a whole meter in this century. The world's oceans absorb 22 million tons of carbon dioxide daily and acidity levels have risen by a third over the last 100 years, he added.

Scientists also say rising temperatures and over-fishing could lead to the collapse of key species that feed millions and help preserve vital ecosystems.

"We've calculated that if carbon emissions aren't cut, then in the long-term we'll see the creation of large death zones in the seas at a depth of 200 and 800 meters which will hardly have any oxygen," Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, head of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Change Research told German newspaper Die Zeit recently.

Schellnhuber, who is Chancellor Angela Merkel's advisor on climate change, warned of dramatic consequences for fishing and world food supplies.

Indonesia pushes for special status for oceans

Indonesia, an archipelago nation of 17,000 islands, is pushing for recognition of the role of oceans in absorbing carbon dioxide which is blamed for global warming. The government in Jakarta has said it wants special status for oceans written into the successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.

"It is clear that our precious marine resources are under dire and increasing threat and that in many parts of the world climate change will accelerate their destruction," Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi said. "Adaptation and mitigation measures are urgently needed to be taken up not only to save marine and coastal resources but also to save the coastal communities."

Saving coastal communities

An estimated 150 people in the region are dependant on the ocean for their livelihood. But pollution, tourism and illegal fishing have caused huge damage to Indonesia's marine ecosystems.

"For the people here, the ocean provides everything they need to live -- much more than in industrialized nations. They're totally dependant on the ocean's resources," Tim Jennerjahn, a biochemist at the Leibnitz center for Marine Tropical Ecology in Bremen told German public broadcaster ZDF.

Jennerjahn, who heads a joint German-Indonesian project for the protection of Indonesia's coastline, said the aim was to create a sustainable coastal management system. "That's why it's important that we present the project at the World Ocean Conference," he said.

Meanwhile, leaders from six countries -- East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands -- will meet on the margins of the conference to launch a plan to save the Coral Triangle, a vast underwater ecosystem that is home to more than half the world's coral reefs.