World Ocean Conference 2009 and Coral Reef Triangle Initiative in Manado Indonesia

As an Indonesian citizen I am so proud of the natural ocean resources of my country like the coral reefs, thousand kind of fish, corals, sponges, anemones, and many more. Indonesia has many interesting and rich diving site. Like Bunaken in North Sulawesi, it has become one largest and well known diving site about 89,065 hectare wide with amazing sparkling water and become our largest National Marine Park. Now, we are so proud to become host in the first World Ocean Conference and the Coral Reef Triangle Initiative in Manado, North Sulawesi - Indonesia. This event opening today May 11 to May 15, 2009 and is officially opened by Mr. Freddy Numberi,  Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister in Grand Kawanua Hall Manado. This conference is attended by representatives from 72 countries. More than 2000 people attended this conference.

The World Ocean Conference is a meeting forum of head of states whose territories include marine areas and become a part by global ocean communities.This conference was held to discuss the complex issues related to international maritime world.Such as a decrease in the qualitative and quantitative resources and marine fisheries. Other arrests occurred between excessive, marine pollution, and global warning. Sea as a hope of the future has received absolutely to support for the future itself (changes the paradigm), and the tendency geopolitics of a problem that comes from the sea. This meeting is set to produce the Manado Declaration that intend to save the ocean for further destruction and increase the ocean's role in saving the planet from the climate change. We know we can not avoid the climate change but at least we try to postpone or reduce the destruction force. We could do two things about this climate change, one is to reduce emissions of green house gasses and conserving biodiverse areas.The management and utilization of marine resources has become a shared task for every country. This is because the sea has a vital role for the balance of ecosystems for the environmental sustainability of human life.

Manado also host the Coral reef Triangle Initiative (CTI) in addition of World Ocean Conference (WOC) that attended by six countries Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Timor Leste.

I hope this coral reef meeting will produce a useful aggrement among those countries that can help save the coral life as you can see the beauty of coral reefs in Bunaken Marine Park has been much reduced compared to few years ago. Many coral damaged and dead. The damage is caused by the explotion that used by the local fisherman.  I hope that the WOC and CTI meeting can help the coral reef life not just in Bunaken Indonesia but also in the world.

The World Ocean Conference 2009 will discuss about ocean governance, ocean environment and sustainability, ocean disaster mitigation, and ocean as the next frontier. Well those issues are important I believe. But as an Indonesian, I hope that such issues like make a better local fisherman life, educate the local people not to destroy our own environment, and not to exploit the marine production so much just for economic reason are as same important as the big issues.

Anyway, I welcome all the delegations of WOC - CTI Summit in Indonesia and I hope this meeting will reach its goal for the people of the world sake