International Scientific Conference on the Indian Ocean and the Pacific in 2013 will be entitled:
INDIAN OCEAN & PACIFIC CONFERENCE 2013
18 to 22 June 2013 in Bali, Indonesia.
Background
Indian and Pacific Ocean - which covers about 66% of the Earth's water surface and about half of its total surface area - play important roles toward earth dynamics with their unique contributions :
Their ocean and atmosphere interactions contribute to global warming and climate changes, and their physical variability have very broad impacts that cover all aspects of life
Geological framework of Indian and Pacific Ocean are interesting, with almost all geological features can be found here. While these geological settings provide economic prospects such as marine minerals, gas, and energy, they result in a vulnerability to marine disasters such as tsunami and hurricanes as well.
Abundant marine biological resources with high level of bio-diversity - including fisheries and aquaculture - provide high economic potential.
Even though both oceans are important for the dynamics of the earth's economic and climate changes , nevertheless the world's attention towards the Indian Ocean lagged behind the Pacific. The evidence of the fact is obvious when the quantity of scientific research, observation, and exploration in the Indian Ocean are compared to similar efforts in the Pacific and other oceans. Therefore the level of our understanding on natural phenomena and resources in the Indian Ocean is still very inadequate.
In 2009 Indonesia hosted the World Ocean Conference 2009 in Manado City. One important result of this activity is declaration and adoption of the Manado Ocean Declaration (MOD) by all of the conference participants. Two important points of the MOD is the need to increase scientific cooperation and sustained observation system (item no-5) and to encourage meetings and exchange of information related to the impact of climate change on marine ecosystems, communities, fisheries and other industries (item no-6). As a consequence, the efforts to better understand the ocean phenomenon and its resources should be encouraged, and more ocean scientific meetings should be organized.
This year, in October 2013, Indonesia will host a summit of APEC leaders in Bali. Considering that the Asia Pacific is a region united by the oceans, therefore, this summit will be a perfect momentum to raise issues related to marine phenomena and resources Indian Ocean and the Pacific region. Furthermore, this conference will result in a recommendation that contribute to the Global Ocean Summit, Den Haag, on September 2013.
Indonesia, the largest archipelagic country in the world and located between the oceans, encourages the participation of countries in the Pacific and Indian Ocean region to meet in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Conference, on 18 to 22 June 2013 in Bali, Indonesia.
Objectives Goals
The main objectives of the Indian Ocean and Pacific Conference 2013 are as follows:
Bringing together scientists, experts, practitioners and policy makers around Indian Ocean and the Pacific Region in an international forum on ocean science and technology.
Organizing the scientific information exchange about the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, including their impact on socio-economic aspects.
Establishing an international scientific forum on Indian Ocean.
The main target of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific conference 2013 are as follows:
To monitor the level of scientific understanding of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific from the aspects of meteorology, oceanography and climatology, as well as the earth ocean science and technology.
To strengthen the scientific cooperation among the countries in the region of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.
To strengthen and enrich the scientific basis for marine management towards sustainability.
To gain support from national, regional and international organizations in conducting ocean research and development programs.
