The World Ocean Conference moved this week to press its concerns on the Copenhagen climate change policy meeting to be held at the end of this year. Speakers emphasized the damage to corals caused by warming water, the decline in fish stocks and the threat of rising sea levels.
The ocean conference, held in Manado, Indonesia, was attended by representatives of some 80 governments, as well as international agencies and environmental organizations. It is part of a complex and sometimes competitive process of preparation for Copenhagen, as a wide range of interests maneuver to ensure that their needs get a hearing. The Copenhagen meeting will try to set global goals for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
As at many of these preliminary meetings, one issue in Manado has been the anxiety of small developing countries that the key decisions will be made by their larger and richer neighbors without any reference to them. Another has been the fear that Copenhagen will set demanding goals without adequately providing financing for poor countries to conform.
The United States, in a gesture indicating the Obama administration’s intention of playing an active part in world climate policy, sent a delegation of more than 40 officials and scientists to Manado. In a video message to the conference, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed support for its work and stressed the humanitarian values at stake in climate policy.
