Apart from Yachting in the seas of Eastern Indonesia, the islands from Sulawesi to Papua, Bali, and the Nusatenggara are developing near-pristine dive sites into major tourist attractions. Most prominent are Wakatobi and Salayar in Central and South Sulawesi, Raja Ampat in West Papua, Bunaken in North Sulawesi and the more familiar dive sites of Bali, Lombok and Flores.
However, Indonesia not only wishes to optimize her sea gardens into marine attractions, the country also wishes to include Indonesias wide open seas as major conservation areas for the preservation of their hundreds of species of rare sea life, at the same time contribute significantly to the reduction of global warming.
From 11-15 May 2009, Manado in North Sulawesi will be host of the first World Ocean Conference (WOC) as part of efforts to deal with global warming. This event has the full support of UNESCO, reported Antara agency.
"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 a press conference, continued Antara.
Governor Sarundajang had attended the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Forum, the 41st Session of the UNESCO Executive Council, in Paris from June 24 to 1 July, 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.
Source: Tuti Sunario for Indonesia Digest
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