Ocean Policy Day at World Ocean Conference

Freddy Numberi, Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Indonesia

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Highlights for Wednesday, 13 May 2009

On Wednesday, 13 May 2009, the World Ocean Conference 2009 entered its third day in Manado, Indonesia. At the Grand Kawanua Centre, participants attended Global Ocean Policy Day, which included four panels on issues surrounding oceans and climate change adaptation, mitigation, and financing of related activities, and the future agenda for oceans and climate change. Meanwhile, at the Manado Convention Centre, participants gathered for the second day of the International Symposium on Ocean Science, Technology and Policy.

Participants waiting for the opening ceremony to begin

Gellwynn Jusuf, Ministry of Marine Affairs, Indonesia, highlighted the urgency of WOC2009

Biliana Cicin-Sain, Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts and Island opened Global Ocean Policy Day

Participants during the session

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Speakers from the Opening Ceremony applauded the proceedings

Freddy Numberi, Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Indonesia, considered the indispensable environmental and economic role of the oceans

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Angela Cropper, UNEP, introduced topics for consideration

Jaqueline Alder, UNEP, introduced the keynote presentations

Van Duc Nguyen, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Viet Nam spoke about climate change impacts and adaptation

Ambassador Dessima Williams, Permanent Representative of Grenada to the UN and Chair, AOSIS, presented on the perspectives of SIDS in climate change

Participants listened to various presentations

L-R: Angela Cropper, UNEP, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, University of Queensland, Australia, Patricio Bernal, UNESCO, Tony Haymet, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, US, Roberto Calcagno, Oceanographic Institute Prince Albert Ier, Monaco, Bernard Giraud, Danone Group, France, Christophe Lefebvre, IUCN, Jeff Price, WWF, US, Duncan Currie, Greenpeace International, New Zealand

The Grand Kawanua Novotel Convention Centre

Military police

L-R: Mary Glackin, NOAA, US; Laurent Stefanini, France and Raphael Lotilla, PEMSEA, Philippines

Nicole Glineur, GEF; Thabit Zahran Al Abdessaalaam, UAE and Poh Poh Wong, National University of Singapore

Camera crews waited for the President of Indonesia to arrive

The limousine of the President of Indonesia

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia, signed a commemorative plaque

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia planted a tree while the media watched

Disaster looms with rising sea levels: islands

From: AFP

Posted Tue May 12, 2009 4:07am PDT

Buzz up!

The Funafuti Atoll, part of the South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, pictured in 2004. Rising sea levels that could wipe whole nations off the map and displace scores of millions of people are being overlooked in global climate change talks, island countries including Tuvalu said Tuesday.(AFP/File/Torsten Blackwood)

MANADO, Indonesia (AFP) - Rising sea levels that could wipe whole nations off the map and displace scores of millions of people are being overlooked in global climate change talks, island countries said Tuesday.

Major emitters are pushing for greenhouse gas emissions cuts that are too low to prevent devastating sea rises, representatives said at the World Ocean Conference in Indonesia's Manado city.

"Dealing with environmental refugees will have a much more serious impact on the global economy and global security in fact than what wars have ever done to this planet," said Rolph Payet, a presidential adviser from the African island nation of the Seychelles.

Other nations under threat from even small rises in sea levels include the Pacific island states of Kiribati and Tuvalu, while heavily populated low-lying areas such as Bangladesh's coastline would also go under.

The five-day conference has attracted hundreds of officials and experts from 70 countries and is being billed as a prelude to December talks on a successor to the expiring Kyoto Protocol.

Payet said there had been "zero" serious discussions in top international forums on how to deal with massive flows of "climate refugees" from low-lying and drought-prone areas.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted in 2007 that up to 150 million people could be displaced by the effects of climate change by 2050, which include sea level rises of as much as 59 centimetres (23 inches).

The Alliance of Small Island States is pushing for 85 percent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

But Payet said the December talks in the Danish capital Copenhagen look set to produce an emissions cut target that would be too low to avert disaster.

The European Union has promised to reduce its emissions by 80 percent by mid-century and US President Barack Obama has proposed his country make an 83 percent cut.

But the details of any global agreement that would include major developing nation emitters such as China remain unknown.

Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France Presse.

Dealing with Environmental Refugees

From: newsrag.com

"The Funafuti Atoll, part of the South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, pictured in 2004. Rising sea levels that could wipe whole nations off the map and displace scores of millions of people are being overlooked in global climate change talks, island countries including Tuvalu said Tuesday.(AFP/File/Torsten Blackwood)
MANADO, Indonesia (AFP) - Rising sea levels that could wipe whole nations off the map and displace scores of millions of people are being overlooked in global climate change talks, island countries said Tuesday.
Major emitters are pushing for greenhouse gas emissions cuts that are too low to prevent devastating sea rises, representatives said at the World Ocean Conference in Indonesia's Manado city.
"Dealing with environmental refugees will have a much more serious impact on the global economy and global security in fact than what wars have ever done to this planet," said Rolph Payet, a presidential adviser from the African island nation of the Seychelles...."

Source: yahoo.com

Changements climatiques: les petits Etats insulaires s'alarment

From: Romandie news

MANADO (Indonésie) - Les petits Etats insulaires, comme les Seychelles ou la Grenade, ont exhorté mardi les pays industrialisés à lutter plus efficacement contre le réchauffement climatique qui, en provoquant une montée du niveau des océans, menace leur existence et pourrait provoquer l'exode de millions d'habitants.

En marge de la Conférence mondiale sur les océans organisée cette semaine à Manado (Indonésie), l'Alliance des petits Etats insulaires a regretté d'être oubliée dans les négociations sur le changement climatique, quelques mois avant le sommet du climat de Copenhague en décembre.

Or "l'afflux de +réfugiés climatiques+ aura des conséquences bien plus importantes sur l'économie et la sécurité mondiale que les guerres", a estimé Rolph Payet, conseiller du président des Seychelles.

Ce petit Etat au large des côtes africaines fait partie, avec plusieurs autres îles du Pacifique ou de l'Océan Indien comme les Maldives, des pays les plus menacés par la montée du niveau de la mer dans les prochaines décennies.

Le Groupe Intergouvernemental d'experts sur l'évolution du climat (GIEC) a misé en 2007 sur une hausse de 59 cm au maximum du niveau de la mer d'ici 2100 en ne prenant en compte que l'expansion naturelle du volume des eaux océaniques due à leur réchauffement, sans intégrer la fonte des glaces de l'Antarctique et du Groenland. Un tel phénomène pourrait entraîner le "déplacement" d'ici 2050 de 150 millions de personnes des îles mais aussi des régions et villes situées sur les côtes ou dans les deltas, selon ses prévisions.

Certains experts estiment que la montée du niveau des mers pourrait être plus importante que ne le prévoit le GIEC.

L'Alliance des petits Etats insulaires réclame une réduction de 85% des émissions de gaz à effet de serre d'ici 2050, un chiffre supérieur aux engagements annoncés jusqu'à présent par les principaux pays émetteurs.

"Nous ne voulons pas que de nouvelles calamités affectent les pays de l'hémisphère sud", a résumé la représentante de l'île de Grenade, Dessima Williams.

La World Ocean Conference (WOC) de Manado réunit quelque 1.500 participants (représentants de 70 Etats, de l'ONU, des ONG et des médias) jusqu'à vendredi.

(©AFP / 12 mai 2009 12h30)