While for some countries global warming is only a distant concept, for others it's a harsh reality and a major threat, as demonstrated by the fact that several Indonesian islands have already sunk, while many more are in danger of disappearing in 20 to 40 years, due to sea level rises, caused by global warming. The melting of the polar caps means increased risks of floods for many of the countries that neighbor oceans.
 

Out of the 17,000 islands that currently comprise Indonesia, oceanologists fear that more than 2,000 will sink in the next decades, due to a severe increase in water levels. As a result, authorities have already begun devising plans of dealing with this potential catastrophe. So far, their resolve brought up contingency measures, of simply evacuating the people living on endangered islands. They are to be relocated on other populated islands, or even on empty ones, as the country has about 11,000 of those.

 
Freddy Numberi, Indonesian Maritime and Fisheries minister, said "We have formed a technical team who will identify the islands which could sink. Indonesia will only see small islands disappear, but there will be a country that is at risk of completely sinking due to the rising sea levels. Therefore, all countries must take this issue seriously." This was a reminder to the international community to start taking firm actions in combating the causes of global warming.
 

He also spoke about the side-effects of rising sea levels, apart from the danger they pose to human lives and assets. "Climate change has cut the fishermen’s income because many fish are now gone," explained Riau governor Ismeth Abdullah. Though the government currently promotes plans of mangrove reforestation, there is little hope that the trees will grow in time to stop the food supply from dwindling. Also, more salty water coming from the ocean could prevent the trees from growing altogether.

 
After the World Ocean Conference, scheduled to take place between May 11 and May 15, 2009 in the Sulawesi capital, an international forum is expected to formulate the Manado Declaration, which Indonesian officials expect would start tackling the problem of rising sea levels from its very core, global warming. Less carbon in the atmosphere means less heat, which in turn stops melting glaciers and prevents the water from rising any further.