Governments discussing the fate of the world’s oceans promised yesterday to reduce pollution, curb overfishing and protect vulnerable coastal communities from the effects of climate change.
The lofty vows were set out in a declaration adopted by government officials from more than 80 countries who gathered this week in Indonesia’s northeastern city of Manado. But there were no specifics measures to achieve those goals.
Participants at the World Ocean Conference talked about the vital role seas play in absorbing greenhouse gas emissions and how they are affected when higher temperatures melt polar ice sheets, cause sea levels to rise and fuel devastating and more frequent storms.
They warned that climate change could wipe out entire ecosystems and could destroy the livelihoods and homes of as many as 100 million people this century in Southeast Asia as fish are killed off and coastal communities flooded.
“The changes we expected to see are actually happening faster than we thought,” said Mary Glackin, US deputy undersecretary for oceans and atmosphere, pointing, for example, to quickly melting ice sheets.
And as oceans take up carbon, they are becoming more acidic, eroding sea shells, bleaching coral and killing other marine life, the US delegate said, “so that is an unexpected thing.”
Those gathering in Manado said that climate change was not the only thing jeopardizing the world’s oceans: Pollution and destructive fishing techniques were also playing a devastating role.
They vowed to address some of those issues immediately, but calls for action were not specific.
“We will strive to reduce pollution of the ocean, coastal and land areas and to promote sustainable management of fisheries,” they wrote in a declaration, calling also for the protection of mangroves, wetlands and coral reefs.
Efforts also will be made to protect the most vulnerable communities that “fully depend on marine resources” and to improve technology needed to answer the many questions that remain about oceans.
They also called for additional funding to help countries adapt to climate change and create sustainable jobs.
The two-day conference was set to wrap up later yesterday.
One of the hopes of attendees was that the conference would help heighten awareness about the need to include oceans in the larger debate about global warming.
Many scientists want oceans on the agenda when governments gather in December at a UN climate change meeting in Denmark to draft a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
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