UNESCO supports planned world ocean conference in Manado

UNESCO has pledged its support for the World Ocean Conference (WOC) to be held in Manado from May 11 to 15, 2009 as part of efforts to deal with global warming.

"Several member states of UNESCO have expressed their readiness to participate in WOC in Manado, as their response to the threat of environmental and marine degradation," North Sulawesi Governor Sinyo Sarundajang told the press here on Friday.

Sarundajang attended the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Forum, the 41st Session of the UNESCO Executive Council, in Paris from June 24 to July 1, 2008.

Some 50 countries attending the UNESCO forum expressed their support for the Indonesian government initiative to organize WOC because marine environmental preservation is crucial for the whole world, he said.

The governor and Indonesian Ambassador to UNESCO Aman Wirakartakusumah was asked to present the plans for WOC at the UNESCO meeting.

They also held a meeting with UNESCO World Heritage Center deputy director Kishore Rao to report on what North Sulawesi had done to prepare its Bunaken Marine Park as a world marine biodiversity site.