Indonesia will lobby China to ask the country to announce its voluntary target of emissions cuts to ward off the expected deadlock on new climate change treaty talks to be held in Copenhagen next month.

State Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said China played a pivotal role for the success of the Copenhagen talks given rich nations demanded that emerging countries like China commit to a binding target on emissions reduction.

“If China sets a voluntary target on emissions cuts, I believe the United States and others wealthy nations would follow suit,” Gusti said Friday.

5th Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands: Ensuring Survival, Preserving Life, and Improving Governance May 3-7, 2010, UNESCO, Paris, France

(in association with the 50th anniversary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and in celebration of the International Year of Biodiversity 2010)

The 5th Global Oceans Conference will specifically address the challenges and opportunities posed by the emerging international consensus on a new climate regime (as developed through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Copenhagen, December 2009). Mitigation, adaptation, and financing issues will profoundly affect oceans, coasts, and small island States, which are at the frontline of climate changes. Thus, it is imperative that the importance of marine and freshwater ecosystems and resources and their vulnerability to climate change are emphasized and that integrated ecosystem-based principles and approaches be fully incorporated in the shared vision for long-term cooperative action and in the adaptation, mitigation, financing, and technology strategies and measures.

Conference Registration Form

Session Application Form

Oceans Day at Copenhagen: The Importance of Oceans, Coasts, and Small Island Developing States in the Climate Regime: December 14, 2009, European Environment Agency, Copenhagen (during the UNFCCC 15th Conference of the Parties)

Oceans Day, co-organized by the International Coastal and Ocean Organization (Secretariat of the Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands), the Government of Indonesia, the European Environment Agency, together with a number of governments, NGOs, and IGOs, will provide an opportunity for Parties and Observer States, intergovernmental organizations, non-government organizations, and members of civil society to discuss the implications of the emerging Copenhagen agreement for oceans, coasts, and coastal communities around the globe, especially in small island developing States. Oceans Day will highlight the direct link between climate change, the health of the oceans, and human well-being, as well as highlight the need for sufficient funding to support bold mitigation and adaptation actions that will minimize climate change impacts on coastal communities and ocean resources. Oceans Day at Copenhagen will also underscore the latest scientific understanding about the impacts of climate change and increased concentration of atmospheric carbon on the oceans. This enhanced knowledge, in addition to the Manado Oceans Declaration, underpins the strong need to focus on oceans, coasts, and coastal communities in the climate negotiations and provide the context for charting the way forward.

The Associated Press ,  Athens   |  Wed, 11/04/2009 9:32 PM  |  World

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday warned that the problem of environmental refugees from developing countries is increasing the pressure for a climate change agreement at an upcoming conference in Copenhagen.

Ban said that the global talks on climate change have also reached a “critical period” in the weeks ahead of Dec. 7-18 climate conference.

On Tuesday, African nations staged a one-day walkout from the U.N. climate talks in Barcelona, Spain, to press demands that negotiations focus more heavily on carbon emission cuts by rich nations. The protesting countries said they would be hardest hit by the effects of global warming.

SLEMAN, KOMPAS.com — Pemerintah Indonesia menyatakan akan berupaya keras mempertahankan Protokol Kyoto dalam konferensi perubahan iklim di Kopenhagen, Denmark, Desember nanti. Protokol itu dinilai sangat penting sebagai perangkat aturan guna mengurangi tingkat emisi gas karbon dunia.

“Jangan sampai Protokol Kyoto itu hilang begitu saja. Kalaupun sampai diganti namanya, kita mengharapkan artikel 3.9 itu tetap ada, yakni kewajiban negara-negara maju untuk menurunkan emisinya,” kata Menteri Negara Lingkungan Hidup Gusti Muhammad Hatta saat kunjungan kerjanya di Sleman, DI Yogyakarta, Rabu (4/11).

Arthur Max ,  Associated Press ,  Barcelona   |  Sun, 11/01/2009 8:32 PM  |  World

Negotiators from nearly 180 countries hope to nail down the outline of a plan to provide tens of billions of dollars a year to fight climate change, in their final round of talks before a decisive conference in Copenhagen next month.

The five-day meeting beginning Monday will resume work on the draft of an agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the first international accord on controlling emissions of carbon dioxide and other climate-changing gases.

They are charged with whittling down a thick draft document full of competing proposals, disputed wording and minority-backed options, and crafting a workable agreement that can be accepted by all 192 nations due to attend the Dec. 7-18 Copenhagen conference.

In today’s session, the Chamber of Deputies stated the importance of the talks to be held prior to the Copenhagen Conference, where an agreement will be reached that will succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

They also encouraged the public to take part in the various events to be held to mark the Talks and called for governments to recognise “subnationals” in applying climate change mitigation and adaptation policies.

In today’s session, the Catalan Parliament expressed its support for the talks to be held in Barcelona, from 2 to 6 November, which are the last round of negotiations before the Copenhagen Conference, where an international agreement must be reached on the continuation and intensification of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the cause of climate change. It did this by issuing a statement emphasising the importance of the Barcelona Talks, the result of which, it is hoped, will be an agreement that will succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

PANGANDARAN, KOMPAS.com — Kerut di wajah wanita ini menggambarkan betapa keras jalur hidup yang ditempuhnya. Susi Pujiastuti (45) merangkak sebagai pedagang ikan segar. Ia sukses di industri perikanan modern dan penerbangan carter beraset ratusan miliar rupiah.

Tak pelak, PT Excelcomindo Pratama (Tbk), perusahaan telekomunikasi, menganugerahinya predikat The Best Indonesia Berprestasi 2009. Saat ini, wanita yang hanya lulusan SMP itu mengelola dua perusahaan.

Masing-masing adalah PT ASI Pujiastuti Marine Product yang bergerak di bisnis perikanan, dan Susi Air yang merupakan maskapai sewa dengan 22 pesawat propeler. Dari dua perusahaan itu, Susi bisa menghidupi ribuan karyawan.

Jalan hidup wanita ini memang penuh liku. Seusai memutuskan keluar dari bangku SMA di Cilacap, Jawa Tengah, pada 1983, Susi mulai menjalani pekerjaannya sebagai pengepul ikan dengan modal pas-pasan.

Semarang (ANTARA News) – Direktur Lembaga Pengembangan Wilayah Pantai (LPWP) Universitas Diponegoro Semarang, Dr Agus Suherman mengatakan Menteri Kelautan dan Perikanan membutuhkan wakil menteri mengingat kompleksitas permasalahan kelautan Indonesia.

“Permasalahan yang dihadapi Indonesia berkaitan dengan bidang kelautan dan perikanan sangat luas dan kompleks, sehingga posisi Menteri Kelautan dan Perikanan membutuhkan wakil, terutama yang berasal dari kalangan profesional,” katanya di Semarang, Minggu.

 

Menurut dia, kompleksitas permasalahan kelautan dan perikanan di Indonesia, antara lain berkaitan dengan pulau-pulau di batas terluar Indonesia yang banyak belum diberi nama dan sumber daya kelautan Indonesia yang melimpah membutuhkan penanganan serius.

Seagrasses to Salt Marshes Among the Most Cost Effective Carbon Capture and Storage Systems on the Planet

But Urgent Action Needed to Maintain and Restore ‘Blue Carbon’ Sinks Warns Three UN Agencies

Cape Town, Nairobi, Rome, Paris, 14 October 2009 – A ‘Blue Carbon’ fund able to invest in the maintenance and rehabilitation of key marine ecosystems should be considered by governments keen to combat climate change.

A new Rapid Response Report released today estimates that carbon emissions-equal to half the annual emissions of the global transport sector-are being captured and stored by marine ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses.

A combination of reducing deforestation on land, allied to restoring the coverage and health of these marine ecosystems could deliver up to 25% of the emissions reductions needed to avoid ‘dangerous’ climate change.

But the report, produced by three United Nations agencies and leading scientists and launched during National Marine Month in South Africa, warns that far from maintaining and enhancing these natural carbon sinks humanity is damaging and degrading them at an accelerating rate.