The Indonesian government said that international delegates attending recent climate talks in Bonn, Germany, have agreed to place ocean issues on the official agenda for the upcoming United Nation climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Jakarta Post quoted an official as saying on Tuesday.

A member of the Indonesian delegation that attended the discussion, Indroyono Soesilo, said that now the link between ocean environments and climate change as outlined in the Indonesian-sponsored Manado Ocean Declaration (MOD) had become part of the global agenda.

"The role of oceans in relation to climate change has been included in an official UN document. For Indonesia, which initiated the World Ocean Conference (WOC), it is a big achievement toward tackling climate issues," Indroyono, an expert with the office of Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare said.

He said that five points of the MOD were listed in a document authored by the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long Term Cooperative Actions (AWG-LCA), a body under the U.N. Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The document will be addressed at the Copenhagen meeting in December.

The five issues include the need for adaptation fund, technology, scientific monitoring on the climate effect on oceans and the development of an integrated ocean observation system.

Source: Xinhua