JAKARTA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government has proposed to sell its inhibited small islands as shelters for environmental refugees, a senior official said here.

    Such an idea was initially raised by Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi, the Jakarta Post daily Tueasday quoted Director General for Coastal and Small Islands of the ministry Syamsul Maarif as saying.

    The United Nations has warned that the climate change could raise the sea level up to 59 centimeters by 2100 unless the world countries take actions to cut huge scale of greenhouse gas emissions.

    He said that Indonesia currently has 17,480 small islands across the archipelago with 5.8 million square kilometers of sea and 81,000 kilometers of coastal lines.

    20 of Indonesia's islands already lost due to environmental problems including sea level rises of climate change, he added.

    The Indonesian government had taken a series of steps to avoid remote small islands from vanishing.

    "We have 92 islands, which act as indicators of Indonesia's marine borders, 12 of which are vulnerable to rising sea levels," he said.

    Indonesia will host an international ocean forum in the North Silawesi province's capital city of Manado next week. Delegations and experts from 121 countries are expected to discuss the role of oceans in dealing with climate change.