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Published on December 7, 2007

To local fishermen, climate change is a title that has little resonance. All they know is that the sea is changing with fewer fish to be found.

"El Nino that occurs every four to seven years will be altering more in frequency and intensity," says the new report entitled "Up in smoke?".

"Of its 17,000 islands, Indonesia could lose as many as 2,000 by 2030 due to the rising sea level," the report says. About 39 million Indonesians will be affected, mostly the poor of whom 80 per cent live in rural areas.

Fishermen at the port to Serangan Island, near the conference venue, say virtually all of them are ignorant of the climate crisis.

"What? No, I don't know about it," 30-year-old Fadma told The Nation in the evening while helping her husband prepare their boat for the next day's fishing.

"What I know is it's more difficult to get fish day by day," she said.

Nyoman Sudarta, 45, head of the Minasegra Cooperative for small-scale, traditional fishermen in the port area,

said stocks are down today

in both number and quality, while the weather keeps fluctuating.

"Temperature, wind speed and seasons have obviously changed in recent years," he said. "I don't know whether it's because of that, but it is happening."

"I recognise climate change only from what's broadcast on TV. I don't know much about it and don't think it will relate with our way of life. If scientists tell me it's because of climate change I'll believe it, but if my friend says it then I wouldn't believe it. However, I strongly believe that everything is in the hands of the man up there," he said, pointing his finger up into the sky.

The relentless loss of marine resources has led some groups to try surviving through non-fishing vocations. One is aquaculture, raising ornamental coral offshore and exporting products to Switzerland and Germany.

Kamol Sukin

The Nation

Bali