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Fate of Islands in Rising Seas Pitched in Thailand Talks
Fidelis E Satriastanti | September 30, 2009

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The impact of climate change on people living on small islands and in coastal areas may be included in environmental discussions, after the country’s delegation to the ongoing climate talks in Bangkok, Thailand, managed to include oceans in the negotiating texts.

“So in the near future, there will be more in-depth scientific research on climate change effects on oceans and coastal areas,” said Agus Purnomo, secretary of the National Council on Climate Change and the head of the delegation. “It is also very important to push adaptation efforts that will prioritize the lives of fishermen who count on the coastal areas and small islands for their livelihoods.”

Climate negotiators from various countries are meeting in Bangkok for two weeks until Oct. 9 to try to pare down 200 pages of negotiating points into a 50-page draft of proposed measures to be presented at December’s UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. The proposals — mitigation and adaptation efforts, deeper emission cuts, technology transfer and funding mechanisms — are expected to result in a new climate treaty that will replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The country’s negotiators left for the talks with the aim of getting the issue of oceans and coastal areas onto the discussion table, following the country’s hosting of the first World Ocean Conference in Manado, North Sulawesi, last May. But several environmentalists doubt the country will be able to push the issue forward, given the government’s lack of comprehensive and consistent policies on the ground.

Agus said his team would monitor the draft of the negotiations, which he said included 20 paragraphs on oceans and coastal areas, all the way to Copenhagen.

“We have been pushing the issue since the last session in June [the Bonn Climate Talks] and there are around 30 countries supporting this submission.”

Abdul Halim, coordinator of the Fisheries Justice Coalition, said the delegation was just trying to find another way to get money out of climate change.

“The delegates want to implement the carbon trade mechanism for oceans,” Abdul said. “It is still not clear how Indonesia will protect fishermen who will suffer most from climate change.”