Reina's Road to Copenhagen

Monday, the start of the second week of negotiations. Thrilled to step foot on Bella Center, start interviewing and getting stories, we got up, got on the metro and around 5 stops later, we were on the Bella Center, the place where all the fuss is happening, the hassle of negotiations, few disappointments but many hopeful hearts. However, I was appalled by the extremely long queue to register. It was horrific. It was around 200 metres and full of grumbling, dismays, regrets and complained. and I felt that the government weren't adequately prepared when it comes to participants. They should have known that thousands of people will be attending this highly anticipated conference and expected to be able to go inside rather than stand outside in the freezing winter weather. Thankfully, I got registered on the day I arrived, and very thankful for that.

Even though, the morning didn't get a very good start, I had the opportunity to interview interesting people. I interview Dr. Ir. Fadel Muhammad, the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries who held a Press Conference explaining the project, he is currently involved in, the Coral Triangle Intiative, which concern corat reefs, fisheries and food security in six countries: Malaysia, Phillipine, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Island, Timor Leste and Indonesia.

I also found out that today is also called Oceans Day and the minister, himself also presented about the CTI with the minister from Solomon Island, Dr. Gordon Darcy Lilo. They gave an explanation of the initiative, so that the others can recognize and act upon the threats from Climate Change that the oceans are facing. Prince Albert II of Monaco also discussed the role of oceans in the Climate Change of Phenomena, its implications of climate change for the world oceans and coastal communities, as well as the next steps for that community.

So it is clear that Climate Change is not only about trees, greenhouse gases, disasters, negotiations, world leaders etc. We are forgetting that the oceans play a big role, in fact, it is threatened, even though it absorbs more than 30 Percent of the Carbon Dioxide Emissions. Hence, afterwards, the Indonesian minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries said, "if we are talking about the environments, and our future, we need to include the ocean."

After his press conference, I had a chance to interview him, his right-hand man and Mrs. Erna Withoelar, United Nations Special Ambassador for the Millenium Development Goals in the Asia Pacific who answered my questions by explaining the 7th Goal, which is ensuring sustainability and how Indonesia, as a country have worked on regarding the eight targets below it. She mentioned how youth should be planting trees, because currently, the rate of the tree cutting is faster than the rate of tree growing, she also mentioned that by cutting the emission, you're helping the environment a great deal.