Indonesia and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on Thursday launched a global project to assess the potential of marine ecosystems to reduce the effects of climate change, according to dpa. UNEP said there was growing evidence that the ocean can serve as a controller of climate change by absorbing greenhouse gases. Sea grasses, mangroves and salt marshes are among several marine and coastal ecosystems that act as natural defences and water purification systems, it said. A recent report compiled by UN agencies estimated that the equivalent of half of the world's transport emissions may be sequestered by the ocean. "Now it is emerging that that (marine and coastal ecosystems) are natural allies against climate change," UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said at a news conference on the sidelines of a global environment meeting on Indonesia's resort island of Bali. "If the world is to decisively deal with climate change, every source of emissions and every option for reducing these should be scientifically evaluated and brought to the international community's attention," he said. Steiner said developing countries could in future be paid to preserve the oceans under a model similar to the so-called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation programme. "If we can create the parameters around which to measure the value of maintaining marine ecosystems and their net benefit to the international community, then the analogy that is applied with forest and land degradation would apply equally to marine conservation," he said. Combined with efforts to halt deforestation, restoring the coverage and health of marine and coastal ecosystems can reduce the effects greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent, helping avoid a climate change disaster, UNEP said. Under a non-binding agreement reached at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen last year, countries agreed to take measures against climate change. Although the conference members passed a motion to "take note" of the Copenhagen Accord, the text was widely criticized for the vague nature of its measures and objectives. A UNEP report released Tuesday said countries need to set tougher targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions if the world is to keep the global temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Scientists say that temperatures must not exceed this increase if a climate catastrophe is to be averted. Indonesia's Marine and Fisheries Affairs Minister Fadel Muhammad said his country had an extensive area of mangroves and sea grass that would significantly contribute to absorbing carbon dioxide. "We have to work on this because the future of the earth and mankind depends on how we manage the ocean wisely and in a sustainable manner," he said.
