University of Delaware experts advise international community on global ocean, climate issues

It's a press release, but the conference sounds worthwhile. From the University of Delaware News: Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country, but this nation of more than 17,000 islands is especially susceptible to the effects of climate change, including sea-level rise, increased flooding, and threats to food security and human health. It was therefore appropriate that the government of Indonesia, led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, organized the World Ocean Conference (WOC) and the Coral Triangle Initiative in Manado, Indonesia, May 11-15.

…Researchers at the University of Delaware's Gerard J. Mangone Center for Marine Policy, located in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment (CEOE) and led by Biliana Cicin-Sain, spent the last two years helping the Indonesian government prepare for the conference.

The WOC highlighted the relationship between climate change and oceans, coasts, and small island developing states. Government representatives from 76 countries adopted the conference's Manado Oceans Declaration, which stresses the importance of including oceans in climate negotiations and urges nations to consider the impacts of climate change on oceans, vulnerable ecosystems, and coastal communities.

The Mangone Center's Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands, with funding support of the Global Environment Facility, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, organized the WOC's Global Ocean Policy Day (GOPD).

…The GOPD produced several recommendations for the UNFCCC process, including using precautionary approaches to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, encouraging ocean-based renewable energies, employing adaptation strategies that ensure the resilience of coastal and marine ecosystems, and mobilizing a sufficient level of adaptation and mitigation financing for the most vulnerable coastal populations in small island developing states and developing countries….

Mountains in the south of Sulawesi, the island where the conference was held, shot by Achmad Rabin Taim, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License