| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Sept 15 (ANTARA) - Some 1,300 children and youths aged 15 to 25 years from 120 countries will gather in the West Java city of Bandung to plant trees, create a world city forest and come up with ideas on sustainable development. The youths will plant the trees in Bandung city's Babakan Siliwangi, a 4-hectare-wide area formerly known as a culinary hub while attending the Tunza Indonesia, an international children and youth conference on the environment to be held in the West Java provincial capital on September 27 - October 1, 2011. "We have to be grateful for the trust given to us to host the international environment conference," Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said here on Thursday. The conference will be held at the Bandung Ganesha Cultural Hall. The international children and youth conference on the environment is a bi-annual event. This conference is expected to produce a declaration, 'the Bandung Declaration' and to serve an input for the United Nations Conference on sustainable development in Rio + 20. The Tunza conference will include a tree planting program and the creation of a grand park, the Juanda grand forest park in the Babakan Siliwangi area which will be declared as a World City Forest and is expected to serve as a monument that will remind people of the importance of the environment sustainability. "In the World Urban Forest program, children participating in the Tunza Conference will plant trees on September 27," Wahyu Marjaka, a member of the Tunza Conference's organizing committee. The tree planting activity by the conference participants would be done one day before the meeting's closing. "Each tree will be given a label with the name of the participant who planted the tree," Wahyu said. "In addition, in the future after the nuclear power plant project is completed, we will try to make the nuclear power plant land into urban forest as well. But this is still a plan " Wahyu added. The land area of four hectares is planned to be planted with different types of trees that would be provided by Tunza committee. "Later, about 800 trees will be planted. However we are providing about 2,500 trees since the target audience is actually over two thousand," Wahyu said. "We have to make three points of success in organizing the conference, namely success as host, success as organizer and success in the outcome of the conference where the event would provide advantage for the surrounding people. Bandung has been chosen as host of the of the conference because while the city of Bandung has been widely known it is also expected to improve further the conditions of its environment. In the meantime, in an effort to enliven the international environment event, Indonesia's Environment Ministry is preparing a 350-hour cycling trip from Bali, the Indonesia tourist resort island, to Bandung on the occasion of the Tunza Conference. "These efforts can contribute to the achievement of the 26-percent carbon dioxide emission reduction target. We want to fight the wasting of energy with the environmentally friendly activity of cycling," the ministry's spokesperson Dodo Sambodo said after a ceremony to launch an "Indonesia Cycling" campaign in Kuta. Indonesia has been entrusted to host this conference, and Tunza can be a tool for Indonesia to conduct environmental diplomacy. "With the Tunza conference themed 'Reshaping our Future through a Green Economy and Sustainable Lifestyle.' we hope to contribute to the efforts of making the green economy a lifestyle," Wahyu said.***6*** |
Tampilkan postingan dengan label environment. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label environment. Tampilkan semua postingan
Kamis, 15 September 2011
WORLD YOUTHS TO PROMOTE ENVIRONMENT IN BANDUNG
Rabu, 16 September 2009
RI BRACING FOR DROUGHT
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, July 16 (ANTARA) - Haze, which is the omen of the arrival of annual drought, has once again begun to disturb people's activities in Sumatra and Kalimantan and has even threatened neighboring countries.
Haze produced by forest and plantation fires in Riau province has the potential of drifting to neighboring countries like Singapore and Malaysia, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has warned.
The problem of haze in Indonesia is only one of the impacts that follow during the annual dry spell, much less if it is coupled with the rage of El Nino.
El Nino, a climate phenomenon with a significant influence on global weather, ocean conditions and marine fisheries, is predicted to hit the Asian region, including Indonesia, later this year or early in 2010.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists announced the arrival of El Nino last week. "Advanced climate science allows us to alert industries, governments and emergency managers about the weather conditions E Nino may bring so these can be factored into decision-making and ultimately protect life, property and the economy,' Jane Lubchenco, NOAA administrator, said in its Website.
With regard to, the Indonesian government is taking anticipatory steps in the face of the El Nino, the periodic warming of central and eastern tropical Pacific waters, which occurs on the average every two to five years and typically lasts about 12 months.
In making its anticipatory efforts, the Indonesian government even realizes that it would need a lot of funds that could even increase its budget deficit to 1.7 percent of its national gross product.
"The government anticipatory efforts to face the threat of possible El Nino-triggered drought might expand state budget deficit from about 1.5 percent to 1.7 percent," Minister for National Development Plan/Head of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), Paskah Suzetta said on Thursday.
He said that El Nino with a prolonged drought was expected to hit the Asian region and Australia later this year and until next 2010. "We have to refer to our experience in 1997 when we were forced to import 5 million rice," he added.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has issued last March a presidential decree on the handling of water resources in the face of drought and the possible arrival of El Nino in 2010.
Suzetta himself attended a coordination meeting the government held to discuss the handling of water resources and possible El Nino-triggered drought.
"An Ad Hoc committee has been established to discuss various polices with regard to water resources and river basin as well as river flow areas," the minister said.
Through the presidential decree, the president also ordered a number of parties to build infrastructures for the interest of the agricultural sector. "This is the example of efforts that would increase the state budget deficit," the minister said.
He said that El Nino would bring in not only food problem but also ill-effects as a result of a protracted drought, including health problems.
The minister predicted however the El Nino in 2010 would not hamper efforts to preserve and increase the welfare of the people in 2010.
"We will continue to make the efforts and maintain the people's purchasing power and curb inflation. We will also prepare various programs which ad hoc in nature to improve the people's purchasing power," the minister added.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono himself emphasized to make preparations and anticipatory steps in the face of El Nino-triggered drought that could disturb food production and water supply.
"The government is obliged to carry out studies on the El-Nino waves and to take anticipatory steps in the face of possible El-Nino," the president said after holding a coordination meeting at his office on Thursday.
He said the Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) had continued to carry out studies and observations to predict the potential threat of drought due the El-Nino. The phenomenon is predicted to impact the western and some eastern parts of Indonesia.
"The BMKG chief has explained the possible arrival of El-Nino in the pacific region at the end of the year or early next year that could affect our agriculture," the head of state said.
Yudhoyono said that the same prediction was also made by the same institutions in the United States, Japan and Australia.
He said that the influence of El-Nino in Indonesia in September 2009 was still weak. However, its influence at the end of the year or early in 2010, was not yet known, yet the BMKG would continue to monitor it.
"One thing for sure is that up to September the climate condition would still be in the save level in the sense that there would be no extreme drought, while after September, we are still waiting for the studies of BMKG in August," Yudhoyono said.
He said that the government remained to prepare anticipatory steps even if there would unlikely be extreme drought triggered by El-Nino until September.
"Our first step is to increase our rice production. The second one is that if there is drought in a certain region we will accelerate the rice planting season, and the third step would be a step to develop a rice variety which is able to grow in an area with water scarcity," he said.***3*** (T.A014/A/H-NG/B003). (T.A014/A/A014/B003) 17-07-2009 00:00:29
Jakarta, July 16 (ANTARA) - Haze, which is the omen of the arrival of annual drought, has once again begun to disturb people's activities in Sumatra and Kalimantan and has even threatened neighboring countries.
Haze produced by forest and plantation fires in Riau province has the potential of drifting to neighboring countries like Singapore and Malaysia, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has warned.
The problem of haze in Indonesia is only one of the impacts that follow during the annual dry spell, much less if it is coupled with the rage of El Nino.
El Nino, a climate phenomenon with a significant influence on global weather, ocean conditions and marine fisheries, is predicted to hit the Asian region, including Indonesia, later this year or early in 2010.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists announced the arrival of El Nino last week. "Advanced climate science allows us to alert industries, governments and emergency managers about the weather conditions E Nino may bring so these can be factored into decision-making and ultimately protect life, property and the economy,' Jane Lubchenco, NOAA administrator, said in its Website.
With regard to, the Indonesian government is taking anticipatory steps in the face of the El Nino, the periodic warming of central and eastern tropical Pacific waters, which occurs on the average every two to five years and typically lasts about 12 months.
In making its anticipatory efforts, the Indonesian government even realizes that it would need a lot of funds that could even increase its budget deficit to 1.7 percent of its national gross product.
"The government anticipatory efforts to face the threat of possible El Nino-triggered drought might expand state budget deficit from about 1.5 percent to 1.7 percent," Minister for National Development Plan/Head of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), Paskah Suzetta said on Thursday.
He said that El Nino with a prolonged drought was expected to hit the Asian region and Australia later this year and until next 2010. "We have to refer to our experience in 1997 when we were forced to import 5 million rice," he added.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has issued last March a presidential decree on the handling of water resources in the face of drought and the possible arrival of El Nino in 2010.
Suzetta himself attended a coordination meeting the government held to discuss the handling of water resources and possible El Nino-triggered drought.
"An Ad Hoc committee has been established to discuss various polices with regard to water resources and river basin as well as river flow areas," the minister said.
Through the presidential decree, the president also ordered a number of parties to build infrastructures for the interest of the agricultural sector. "This is the example of efforts that would increase the state budget deficit," the minister said.
He said that El Nino would bring in not only food problem but also ill-effects as a result of a protracted drought, including health problems.
The minister predicted however the El Nino in 2010 would not hamper efforts to preserve and increase the welfare of the people in 2010.
"We will continue to make the efforts and maintain the people's purchasing power and curb inflation. We will also prepare various programs which ad hoc in nature to improve the people's purchasing power," the minister added.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono himself emphasized to make preparations and anticipatory steps in the face of El Nino-triggered drought that could disturb food production and water supply.
"The government is obliged to carry out studies on the El-Nino waves and to take anticipatory steps in the face of possible El-Nino," the president said after holding a coordination meeting at his office on Thursday.
He said the Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) had continued to carry out studies and observations to predict the potential threat of drought due the El-Nino. The phenomenon is predicted to impact the western and some eastern parts of Indonesia.
"The BMKG chief has explained the possible arrival of El-Nino in the pacific region at the end of the year or early next year that could affect our agriculture," the head of state said.
Yudhoyono said that the same prediction was also made by the same institutions in the United States, Japan and Australia.
He said that the influence of El-Nino in Indonesia in September 2009 was still weak. However, its influence at the end of the year or early in 2010, was not yet known, yet the BMKG would continue to monitor it.
"One thing for sure is that up to September the climate condition would still be in the save level in the sense that there would be no extreme drought, while after September, we are still waiting for the studies of BMKG in August," Yudhoyono said.
He said that the government remained to prepare anticipatory steps even if there would unlikely be extreme drought triggered by El-Nino until September.
"Our first step is to increase our rice production. The second one is that if there is drought in a certain region we will accelerate the rice planting season, and the third step would be a step to develop a rice variety which is able to grow in an area with water scarcity," he said.***3*** (T.A014/A/H-NG/B003). (T.A014/A/A014/B003) 17-07-2009 00:00:29
Rabu, 15 April 2009
MOST OF RI'S GARBAGE NOT DISPOSED OF PROPERLY
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Feb 21 (ANTARA) - About 79 percent of the estimated 176,000 tons of garbage urban Indonesians produce each day fails to be deposited properly but is thrown into rivers, onto parks or burnt at any convenient place due to the lack of waste transportation services and appropriate garbage dumps.
"Most of the garbage, which is not taken to dump sites due to the lack of refuse transportation services, is thrown into rivers, onto parks or burnt. When rain comes it worsens floods," Nugroho Tri Utomo of the Drinking Water and Environment Sanitation Networks, or AMPL, said on Thursday.
It is estimated that each person in Indonesia with its population of 220 million produces some 800 grams of waste per day.
"The national census in 2007 showed that about 55 percent of the garbage produced in urban areas and 95 percent in rural regions, or 79 percent on the national volume, was not picked up by cleanliness services," Tri Utomo said.
Data available at the office of the ministry of environment indicated that in 2007 the volume of refuse in 194 districts/ district cities reached 666 million liters or equivalent to 42 million kilograms. There are 477 districts/ district cities in Indonesia based on data in 2008.
Tri Bangun Laksono, acting assistant to the deputy of the environment minister for waste pollution affairs, said that about 14 percent of the 42 million kg rubbish, or about six million tons, were plastic junk.
In order to help overcome the waste problem in the country, the government is working out several government regulations in order to implement Law No. 18, 2008 on Waste Management. Based on the law, waste should be managed in such away so that in 2015 there would be no more piles of litter even if in dump sites, let alone in open places.
The government regulations carry provisions on waste sorting out facilities, labeling, producers' obligation, reduction of waste, compensation, incentives, management of specific waste, financing, impact and ban on importing waste.
Tri Bangun Laksono said that there were initially 11 draft government regulations being drafted to follow up Law No. 18 / 2008 but due to time constraint they were regrouped into three government regulations, namely on waste reduction, waste handling and management of specific refuse.
One of the government regulations concerns plastic bags. Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said his office would issue a regulation to restrict the use of plastic bags in Indonesia. "I will issue a regulation which provides details, including incentives and disincentives, for plastic bag producers," the minister said.
According to Slamet Daroyni, executive director of the Environmental Forum (WALHI), shopping centers are the main sources of plastic bag problems. "If in one day one million people go shopping with each bringing home three plastic bags, it means about three million plastic bags need to be disposed of every day," Raroyni said.
Therefore, he said, the government needed to think of alternative bags in carrying out its idea to restrict the use of plastic bags. After all, plastic bags are made of non-degradable, inorganic materials.
Based on data at the office of the ministry of environment, about 12,800 tons of waste are recycled daily, of which two percent or 204.16 tons are biodegradable or organic refuse. It has the potential to produce methane.
If the organic waste is processed into compost, it would have the potential to cut methane gas emission by 1.5 giga grams per annum that usually contributes to global warming.
With a rate conversion of 50 kg methane per one ton of biodegradable organic garbage, the potential methane emission is about 745.2 giga grams.
This rate is relatively small. Its contribution to global warming is only one percent compared with other contributors such as forest conversion, use of energy, transportation and agriculture. However, methane gas has the power to erode the ozone layer 21 times bigger than that of the carbon dioxide gas.
Therefore, the government should begin to seek suitable waste management system or at least applying the sanitary landfill system, a method of waste disposal with certain techniques so that it would not caused pollution and health problems.
In the meantime, the Gajah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta in cooperation with Sweden is developing a waste management system that could be implemented in Indonesia, namely a waste refinery (WR) system.
"In implementing our program we will cooperate with a number of regional governments, government institutions and universities in Indonesia," Coordinator of UGM's WR Program Team, Dr Siti Syamsiah said.
She said that through the WR network the UGM hoped to share experience on waste and environment management with other regional governments in Indonesia.
Syamsiah said that the WR concept was a new paradigm in waste management where garbage was considered as a potential raw material to be recycled to produce new products with added values.
"Waste can be utilized as energy and be recycled to produce other types of goods. Sweden has been recognized as a successful country in managing its refuse," she said.
She said that the waste management in Sweden had been successful not only in processing waste into energy sources such as biogas and power energy but also in encouraging people to sort out rubbish with commercial benefits.
"About 40 percent of waste in Sweden is utilized to produce electricity and fuel oils for motor vehicles," she said.***3*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/17:00/a014) (T.A014/A/A014/A/A014) 21-02-2009 18:57:40
Jakarta, Feb 21 (ANTARA) - About 79 percent of the estimated 176,000 tons of garbage urban Indonesians produce each day fails to be deposited properly but is thrown into rivers, onto parks or burnt at any convenient place due to the lack of waste transportation services and appropriate garbage dumps.
"Most of the garbage, which is not taken to dump sites due to the lack of refuse transportation services, is thrown into rivers, onto parks or burnt. When rain comes it worsens floods," Nugroho Tri Utomo of the Drinking Water and Environment Sanitation Networks, or AMPL, said on Thursday.
It is estimated that each person in Indonesia with its population of 220 million produces some 800 grams of waste per day.
"The national census in 2007 showed that about 55 percent of the garbage produced in urban areas and 95 percent in rural regions, or 79 percent on the national volume, was not picked up by cleanliness services," Tri Utomo said.
Data available at the office of the ministry of environment indicated that in 2007 the volume of refuse in 194 districts/ district cities reached 666 million liters or equivalent to 42 million kilograms. There are 477 districts/ district cities in Indonesia based on data in 2008.
Tri Bangun Laksono, acting assistant to the deputy of the environment minister for waste pollution affairs, said that about 14 percent of the 42 million kg rubbish, or about six million tons, were plastic junk.
In order to help overcome the waste problem in the country, the government is working out several government regulations in order to implement Law No. 18, 2008 on Waste Management. Based on the law, waste should be managed in such away so that in 2015 there would be no more piles of litter even if in dump sites, let alone in open places.
The government regulations carry provisions on waste sorting out facilities, labeling, producers' obligation, reduction of waste, compensation, incentives, management of specific waste, financing, impact and ban on importing waste.
Tri Bangun Laksono said that there were initially 11 draft government regulations being drafted to follow up Law No. 18 / 2008 but due to time constraint they were regrouped into three government regulations, namely on waste reduction, waste handling and management of specific refuse.
One of the government regulations concerns plastic bags. Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said his office would issue a regulation to restrict the use of plastic bags in Indonesia. "I will issue a regulation which provides details, including incentives and disincentives, for plastic bag producers," the minister said.
According to Slamet Daroyni, executive director of the Environmental Forum (WALHI), shopping centers are the main sources of plastic bag problems. "If in one day one million people go shopping with each bringing home three plastic bags, it means about three million plastic bags need to be disposed of every day," Raroyni said.
Therefore, he said, the government needed to think of alternative bags in carrying out its idea to restrict the use of plastic bags. After all, plastic bags are made of non-degradable, inorganic materials.
Based on data at the office of the ministry of environment, about 12,800 tons of waste are recycled daily, of which two percent or 204.16 tons are biodegradable or organic refuse. It has the potential to produce methane.
If the organic waste is processed into compost, it would have the potential to cut methane gas emission by 1.5 giga grams per annum that usually contributes to global warming.
With a rate conversion of 50 kg methane per one ton of biodegradable organic garbage, the potential methane emission is about 745.2 giga grams.
This rate is relatively small. Its contribution to global warming is only one percent compared with other contributors such as forest conversion, use of energy, transportation and agriculture. However, methane gas has the power to erode the ozone layer 21 times bigger than that of the carbon dioxide gas.
Therefore, the government should begin to seek suitable waste management system or at least applying the sanitary landfill system, a method of waste disposal with certain techniques so that it would not caused pollution and health problems.
In the meantime, the Gajah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta in cooperation with Sweden is developing a waste management system that could be implemented in Indonesia, namely a waste refinery (WR) system.
"In implementing our program we will cooperate with a number of regional governments, government institutions and universities in Indonesia," Coordinator of UGM's WR Program Team, Dr Siti Syamsiah said.
She said that through the WR network the UGM hoped to share experience on waste and environment management with other regional governments in Indonesia.
Syamsiah said that the WR concept was a new paradigm in waste management where garbage was considered as a potential raw material to be recycled to produce new products with added values.
"Waste can be utilized as energy and be recycled to produce other types of goods. Sweden has been recognized as a successful country in managing its refuse," she said.
She said that the waste management in Sweden had been successful not only in processing waste into energy sources such as biogas and power energy but also in encouraging people to sort out rubbish with commercial benefits.
"About 40 percent of waste in Sweden is utilized to produce electricity and fuel oils for motor vehicles," she said.***3*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/17:00/a014) (T.A014/A/A014/A/A014) 21-02-2009 18:57:40
Jumat, 02 Mei 2008
UN CONFERENCE FINALLY ADOPTS BALI ROADMAP
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Dec 15 (ANTARA) - After an extension for 24 hours, the 13th Conference of Parties (CoP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted the Bali Roadmap before it closed on Satuday evening.
"Bali Roadmap is a concensus reached by the UNFCCC for all countries to carry out their respective commitments to safeguard the earth," COP-13 Chairman Rachmat Witoelar said Saturday night.
The adoption of the Bali Roadmap came after marathon negotiations overnight which first settled a battle between Europe and the U.S. over whether the document should mention specific goals for rich countries' obligations to cut grenhouise gas emssions.
Witoelar said that negotiations were going at snail's pace over the a demand how far developed countries would cut their greenhouse gases. In the draft developed nations had binding commitment to cut their emissions by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 level by 2020.
The UNFCCC conference, which was previously scheduled to be closed on Friday, was extended until 10 am on Saturday. But it was once again delayed until Saturday evening because India and China rejected a point in the draft on emission-cutting targets.
They argued that developed nations which had become gas emitters long before developing states should agree to cut their emissions more than developing countries.
India wanted the final text of the draft reviewed to allow developed nations to play a greater role in clean technology and funding for parties vulnerable to the impact of global warming.
The Bali Roadmap could however be endorsed after delegates agreed a non-binding emission cutting targets until 2012 and a binding target for the cutting of gas emissions until 2050.
After all, the Americans backed down after delegates criticized the US stand. "I think we have come a long way here," said Paula Dobriansky, head of the US delegation.
Witoelar said that developed countries would take the lead in reducing pollution and cutting carbon emissions. In this case, the efforts to mitigate climate change would not be made by developing countries alone.
"Indonesia for example, will continue to reduce gas emissions, plant trees and protect forests so that they would serve as carbon sinks," the COP president said.
In the meantime, Indonesian chief negotiator to the conference said that although talks in Saturday's session were marked by tough debates, they finally resulted in a developed countries' agreement to take part in carbon emission mitigation efforts.
"It was evident that the US delegation has accepted the commitment and agreement as a result of the conference, so the developed countries will just adhere to what the cnference decides," Emil said on the sidelines of the conference.
Earlier, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer suddenly walked out of a plenary session of the Conference of Parties (COP) chaired by Rachmat Witoelar.
After uttering a few words, de Boer left the conference room at the Bali International Convention Center (BICC), the venue of the meeting, to the applause of the audience.
He left the room only moments after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had made their exit after addressing the session.
Conference sources said de Boer had walked out because he was upset that certain delegations had held a 'secret meeting' without his consent as UNFCCC executive secretary. There was no information on which delegations had held the secret meeting.
Ban Ki-moon and Yudhoyono spoke at the plenary meeting in an effort to give a moral boost to negotiators of the UN climate change conference so that they could finish their talks that had been extended for 24 hours.
Ban Ki-moon called on the plenary session to take an important and ambitious decision. The UN chief asked delegates to take a decision that was beneficial for all. He said scientists had evidence on the importance of taking actions soon and mobilizing all efforts to face the impact of climate change.
"We appreciate all of you who have worked hard day and night to produce success, though you still have to make more progress in the future," the UN chief said.
He admitted that a decision of a negotiation should benefit and satisfy all parties while at the same time it should also be flexible.
In the meantime, President Susilo Bambang Yudohoyono who delivered his address earlier, said all delegates had spent a lot of time, energy and money in the last 12 days.
"Both developed and developing nations should move in the right direction. Without an effective road map that is accepted by all, there will be no goal that can be achieved," he said.
He said a road map for common commitment and interest should be flexible. Therefore, he urged delegates to continuously discuss the road map in 2008 and finish it in 2009. (A014/ ) (T.SYS/A/A014/Z002) 15-12-2007 22:44:06
Jakarta, Dec 15 (ANTARA) - After an extension for 24 hours, the 13th Conference of Parties (CoP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted the Bali Roadmap before it closed on Satuday evening.
"Bali Roadmap is a concensus reached by the UNFCCC for all countries to carry out their respective commitments to safeguard the earth," COP-13 Chairman Rachmat Witoelar said Saturday night.
The adoption of the Bali Roadmap came after marathon negotiations overnight which first settled a battle between Europe and the U.S. over whether the document should mention specific goals for rich countries' obligations to cut grenhouise gas emssions.
Witoelar said that negotiations were going at snail's pace over the a demand how far developed countries would cut their greenhouse gases. In the draft developed nations had binding commitment to cut their emissions by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 level by 2020.
The UNFCCC conference, which was previously scheduled to be closed on Friday, was extended until 10 am on Saturday. But it was once again delayed until Saturday evening because India and China rejected a point in the draft on emission-cutting targets.
They argued that developed nations which had become gas emitters long before developing states should agree to cut their emissions more than developing countries.
India wanted the final text of the draft reviewed to allow developed nations to play a greater role in clean technology and funding for parties vulnerable to the impact of global warming.
The Bali Roadmap could however be endorsed after delegates agreed a non-binding emission cutting targets until 2012 and a binding target for the cutting of gas emissions until 2050.
After all, the Americans backed down after delegates criticized the US stand. "I think we have come a long way here," said Paula Dobriansky, head of the US delegation.
Witoelar said that developed countries would take the lead in reducing pollution and cutting carbon emissions. In this case, the efforts to mitigate climate change would not be made by developing countries alone.
"Indonesia for example, will continue to reduce gas emissions, plant trees and protect forests so that they would serve as carbon sinks," the COP president said.
In the meantime, Indonesian chief negotiator to the conference said that although talks in Saturday's session were marked by tough debates, they finally resulted in a developed countries' agreement to take part in carbon emission mitigation efforts.
"It was evident that the US delegation has accepted the commitment and agreement as a result of the conference, so the developed countries will just adhere to what the cnference decides," Emil said on the sidelines of the conference.
Earlier, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer suddenly walked out of a plenary session of the Conference of Parties (COP) chaired by Rachmat Witoelar.
After uttering a few words, de Boer left the conference room at the Bali International Convention Center (BICC), the venue of the meeting, to the applause of the audience.
He left the room only moments after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had made their exit after addressing the session.
Conference sources said de Boer had walked out because he was upset that certain delegations had held a 'secret meeting' without his consent as UNFCCC executive secretary. There was no information on which delegations had held the secret meeting.
Ban Ki-moon and Yudhoyono spoke at the plenary meeting in an effort to give a moral boost to negotiators of the UN climate change conference so that they could finish their talks that had been extended for 24 hours.
Ban Ki-moon called on the plenary session to take an important and ambitious decision. The UN chief asked delegates to take a decision that was beneficial for all. He said scientists had evidence on the importance of taking actions soon and mobilizing all efforts to face the impact of climate change.
"We appreciate all of you who have worked hard day and night to produce success, though you still have to make more progress in the future," the UN chief said.
He admitted that a decision of a negotiation should benefit and satisfy all parties while at the same time it should also be flexible.
In the meantime, President Susilo Bambang Yudohoyono who delivered his address earlier, said all delegates had spent a lot of time, energy and money in the last 12 days.
"Both developed and developing nations should move in the right direction. Without an effective road map that is accepted by all, there will be no goal that can be achieved," he said.
He said a road map for common commitment and interest should be flexible. Therefore, he urged delegates to continuously discuss the road map in 2008 and finish it in 2009. (A014/ ) (T.SYS/A/A014/Z002) 15-12-2007 22:44:06
RI PLANTS TREES AMID RISING CLIMATE CHANGE CONCERNS
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Nov 30 (ANTARA) - Indonesia, which is believed to be the world's third largest producer of carbon emissions, is launching this week a nation-wide drive to plant 79 million trees across the country.
The reforestation drive came up in the runnup to the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which takes place in Indonesia's tourist resort island of Bali for two weeks opening on Monday, December 3, 2007
However, the tree planting drive was launched not because of the international event, where about 10,000 delegates from over 160 countries are expected to attend to discuss a roadmap for global efforts to reduce carbon gases and mitigate global warming after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
"It's not planting trees just as a show to get a picture printed in the papers, nor because Indonesia is to host the UNFCCC but because we don't want to experience self-inflicted disasters, because we want to preserve water and air," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in remarks to the reforestation drive launch.
As a result of climate change and environmental degradation, Indonesia has become prone to natural disasters with annual floods and droughts causing material loss worth millions of dollars and hundreds of human lives.
The reforestation drive is therefore expected to increase Indonesia's forest capacity in preserving the environment and absorbing carbon gases that have been posing a threat to the planet including the life of its inhabitants.
Indonesian forests which cover 120.3 million hectares, along with those of other tropical rain forest countries --such as Brazil, Cameroon, Congo, Costa Rica, Gabon, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea-- function as lungs of the world. Indonesia and these countries have joined ranks amid the rising global warming threat.
Forest fires and massive illegal logging in Indonesia raise concern that while its forests function as carbon absorber, they also contribute to gas emissions released into to the atmosphere.
"Deforestation and forest degradation in Indonesia are also considered a source of carbon emissions because the C02 gases are also released into the atmosphere," Indonesian Forestry Minister MS Ka'ban said in a written address at the launch of a National Forest and Land Rehabilitation Movement in Bali.
Virtually, industrialized countries are the main contributors to the carbon emissions, while forests in the developing countries function to absorb them.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country director for Indonesia, Hakan Bjorkman (the Jakarta Post Nov.28), most of the climate change has been caused by carbon emissions in the developed countries over the past hundred years.
As a result, global warming increases, threating to sink small islands due to the melting of ice in the polar regions.
The International Panel on Climate Change (IPPCC), the highest scientific body on climate change issues said in its report recently that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will result in an average rise in sea levels by 1.2 meters.
In the meantime, a UNDP report said this week that average global surface temperatures have risen by about 0.7 degrees Celsius since the start of the industrial revolution.
"The world should thank countries endowed with tropical rain forests that served as the world's lungs because they were developing countries and it was only proper for the world to help Indonesia preserve its forests by providing it with technology and financial assistance," President Yudhoyono said.
The Kyoto Protocol allows the developing countries to host green projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Development Mechanism.
In return, the developing countries may trade tons of carbon reduction to developed nations that have binding targets to reduce emissions. Carbon reductions are worth up to US$10 a ton.
In this case, MS Kaban said industrialized countries had owed Indonesia about Rp6 trillion (US$638.5 million) this year alone because it was able to reduce its tree felling by 5.5 million cubic meters of its production forests..
"We have 12 million cubic meters of potential production forests to be cut annually. But we only cut 6.5 million cubic meters this year. So, we have a difference of 5.5 million cubic meters of trees which were not cut down," the minister said, adding that this should be compensated for.
The compensation demanded by Indonesia from the developed nations is actually much smaller compared to the economic value of its forests.
According to Elfian Effendi, executive director of Greenomics Indonesia, a natural resources advocacy non-governmental organization, the economic value of Indonesia's forests reaches hundreds of billions of dollars.
Indonesia still has 36.5 million hectares of conservation and 36.7 million hectares of production forests with, due to their carbon absorption capacity, have a combined economic value of between 216.4 and 234.4 billion dollars, he said.
Apart from that, Indonesian forests also hold almost 9,000 megatons of carbon concentration worth about 134.5 billion US dollars, he said.
Elfian said that the advanced countries must pay 134.5 billion dollars if they wanted to prevent Indonesia's deforestation from releasing 7,000 megatons of carbon into the atmosphere.
Regardless of compensation, however, Indonesia will continue to try its best to reforest its land, at least for its own sake.
During the launch of the reforestation drive this week, President Yudhoyono asked Forestry Minister MS Kaban to take tighter measures to protect forests throughout the country to preserve the environment.
"From now on, every December will be a month for the simultaneous planting of trees in Indonesia. It does not mean we will not be planting trees in the other months but in December we will do it together at the same time," he said
He pointed out that the world could undergo a cataclysmic crisis and disaster if Indonesians did not care about preserving their environment.
"If the temperature on Earth continues to rise and the climate keeps on changing there will be many disasters and the living creatures on earth including the human race will be the victims. Therefore, we support this tree-planting activity," the President said. (A014/A/HNG/a014 ) (T.A014/A/A014/A/A014) 30-11-2007 22:12:20
Jakarta, Nov 30 (ANTARA) - Indonesia, which is believed to be the world's third largest producer of carbon emissions, is launching this week a nation-wide drive to plant 79 million trees across the country.
The reforestation drive came up in the runnup to the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which takes place in Indonesia's tourist resort island of Bali for two weeks opening on Monday, December 3, 2007
However, the tree planting drive was launched not because of the international event, where about 10,000 delegates from over 160 countries are expected to attend to discuss a roadmap for global efforts to reduce carbon gases and mitigate global warming after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
"It's not planting trees just as a show to get a picture printed in the papers, nor because Indonesia is to host the UNFCCC but because we don't want to experience self-inflicted disasters, because we want to preserve water and air," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in remarks to the reforestation drive launch.
As a result of climate change and environmental degradation, Indonesia has become prone to natural disasters with annual floods and droughts causing material loss worth millions of dollars and hundreds of human lives.
The reforestation drive is therefore expected to increase Indonesia's forest capacity in preserving the environment and absorbing carbon gases that have been posing a threat to the planet including the life of its inhabitants.
Indonesian forests which cover 120.3 million hectares, along with those of other tropical rain forest countries --such as Brazil, Cameroon, Congo, Costa Rica, Gabon, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea-- function as lungs of the world. Indonesia and these countries have joined ranks amid the rising global warming threat.
Forest fires and massive illegal logging in Indonesia raise concern that while its forests function as carbon absorber, they also contribute to gas emissions released into to the atmosphere.
"Deforestation and forest degradation in Indonesia are also considered a source of carbon emissions because the C02 gases are also released into the atmosphere," Indonesian Forestry Minister MS Ka'ban said in a written address at the launch of a National Forest and Land Rehabilitation Movement in Bali.
Virtually, industrialized countries are the main contributors to the carbon emissions, while forests in the developing countries function to absorb them.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country director for Indonesia, Hakan Bjorkman (the Jakarta Post Nov.28), most of the climate change has been caused by carbon emissions in the developed countries over the past hundred years.
As a result, global warming increases, threating to sink small islands due to the melting of ice in the polar regions.
The International Panel on Climate Change (IPPCC), the highest scientific body on climate change issues said in its report recently that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will result in an average rise in sea levels by 1.2 meters.
In the meantime, a UNDP report said this week that average global surface temperatures have risen by about 0.7 degrees Celsius since the start of the industrial revolution.
"The world should thank countries endowed with tropical rain forests that served as the world's lungs because they were developing countries and it was only proper for the world to help Indonesia preserve its forests by providing it with technology and financial assistance," President Yudhoyono said.
The Kyoto Protocol allows the developing countries to host green projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Development Mechanism.
In return, the developing countries may trade tons of carbon reduction to developed nations that have binding targets to reduce emissions. Carbon reductions are worth up to US$10 a ton.
In this case, MS Kaban said industrialized countries had owed Indonesia about Rp6 trillion (US$638.5 million) this year alone because it was able to reduce its tree felling by 5.5 million cubic meters of its production forests..
"We have 12 million cubic meters of potential production forests to be cut annually. But we only cut 6.5 million cubic meters this year. So, we have a difference of 5.5 million cubic meters of trees which were not cut down," the minister said, adding that this should be compensated for.
The compensation demanded by Indonesia from the developed nations is actually much smaller compared to the economic value of its forests.
According to Elfian Effendi, executive director of Greenomics Indonesia, a natural resources advocacy non-governmental organization, the economic value of Indonesia's forests reaches hundreds of billions of dollars.
Indonesia still has 36.5 million hectares of conservation and 36.7 million hectares of production forests with, due to their carbon absorption capacity, have a combined economic value of between 216.4 and 234.4 billion dollars, he said.
Apart from that, Indonesian forests also hold almost 9,000 megatons of carbon concentration worth about 134.5 billion US dollars, he said.
Elfian said that the advanced countries must pay 134.5 billion dollars if they wanted to prevent Indonesia's deforestation from releasing 7,000 megatons of carbon into the atmosphere.
Regardless of compensation, however, Indonesia will continue to try its best to reforest its land, at least for its own sake.
During the launch of the reforestation drive this week, President Yudhoyono asked Forestry Minister MS Kaban to take tighter measures to protect forests throughout the country to preserve the environment.
"From now on, every December will be a month for the simultaneous planting of trees in Indonesia. It does not mean we will not be planting trees in the other months but in December we will do it together at the same time," he said
He pointed out that the world could undergo a cataclysmic crisis and disaster if Indonesians did not care about preserving their environment.
"If the temperature on Earth continues to rise and the climate keeps on changing there will be many disasters and the living creatures on earth including the human race will be the victims. Therefore, we support this tree-planting activity," the President said. (A014/A/HNG/a014 ) (T.A014/A/A014/A/A014) 30-11-2007 22:12:20
CLIMATE JUSTICE ON TOP OF CLIMATE CHANGE
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Dec 11 (ANTARA) - Calls for justice in the handling of global warming continued to be echoed amid the on-going international conference on climate change in the Indonesian tourist resort island of Bali.
Delegates at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are still divided over whether developed countries should be responsible for the funding of the reduction of emissions from deforestation and degradation in developing countries.
Calls on rich countries --which have enjoyed prosperity but contributed major gases-- to compensate poor nations were being made as an effort to find equal justice with regard to the climate change.
"Climate justice is on top of climate change," said Effendy Gozali, a communication expert, during a Metro TV's program called "News Dot Com" on Sunday. Gozali's remarks explained how justice is being fought for during the climate change conference.
The same calls were also voiced by non-governmental organizations such as Oxfam International, a group of NGOs from three continents working worldwide to fight poverty and injustice.
On Tuesday, Oxfam once again called on rich countries to provide adaptation funds in compensation for developing and poor countries over gas emissions they had produced.
In the climate change map, it was written that developing nations needed about one to two billion US dollars for adaptation funds, where India and China were included in the group.
The adaptation funds the developed countries have agreed to only amounted to 67 million dollars, smaller than the fund the US spends on lotion consumption a month.
NGOs generally urged rich countries --who consumed excessive fuel oil that generated global warming-- to provide compensation in the form of adaptation funds for developing states.
Even they wanted developed nations to write off developing nations' debts.
Activists of the Civil Society Forum called on advanced states to write off developing countries' debts which they said had led to the exploitation of natural resources and increasing poverty in developing nations.
While celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol, they held a peaceful rally on the premises of the Westin Hotel, the venue of the on-going international conference on climate change.
The forum said that developing countries, in the name of development, often fought for large-scale projects such forest felling, exploitation of mineral resources and fossil energy sponsored by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
The forum spokesman, Anida Haryatmo, said the loans developing countries had obtained from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank had adversely created poverty among their peoples, destroyed the environment and caused the swelling of the debts of Southern countries.
Because damage to the environment was closely related to the climate problem, the forum urged Southern countries to build strength to demand the writing off of their debts so that they would be able to finance the crisis they were facing as a result of climate change.
On the need for the adaptation funds for developing countries, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) researchers urged developed nations to immediately discuss adaptation funds as the key to the solution of problems being discussed at the UNFCCC conference.
Kevin Watkins, the lead author of a report titled "Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World", said rich countries had left poor countries in the lurch, putting the latter in a state of "sinking or swimming" without any support.
The report on the impact of climate change on global development in 2007/2008 pointed out an imbalanced trend in the funding sector to adapt to climate change.
The UNDP said the trend may lead to an apartheid-style adaptation phenomenon as poor countries would be left sinking alone and forced to rely on their own capacity without significant support from rich countries.
Speaking at a press conference held on the occasion of the climate change meeting, Kavin said it was high time for developed nations "to step forward" with regard to adaptation funds.
In its Human Development Report, UNDP predicted adaptation funds needed by 2015 would be US$86 billion per year.
"The figure seems very large but actually it only accounts for 0.2 percent of rich countries' GDP," he said.
Adaptation funds derived from all multilateral funding sources in the past two years amounted to only US$26 million, which is equal to the amount of funds spent by Britain on a flood-control project for a week, he said. (A014/A/HNG/A/E002)
Jakarta, Dec 11 (ANTARA) - Calls for justice in the handling of global warming continued to be echoed amid the on-going international conference on climate change in the Indonesian tourist resort island of Bali.
Delegates at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are still divided over whether developed countries should be responsible for the funding of the reduction of emissions from deforestation and degradation in developing countries.
Calls on rich countries --which have enjoyed prosperity but contributed major gases-- to compensate poor nations were being made as an effort to find equal justice with regard to the climate change.
"Climate justice is on top of climate change," said Effendy Gozali, a communication expert, during a Metro TV's program called "News Dot Com" on Sunday. Gozali's remarks explained how justice is being fought for during the climate change conference.
The same calls were also voiced by non-governmental organizations such as Oxfam International, a group of NGOs from three continents working worldwide to fight poverty and injustice.
On Tuesday, Oxfam once again called on rich countries to provide adaptation funds in compensation for developing and poor countries over gas emissions they had produced.
In the climate change map, it was written that developing nations needed about one to two billion US dollars for adaptation funds, where India and China were included in the group.
The adaptation funds the developed countries have agreed to only amounted to 67 million dollars, smaller than the fund the US spends on lotion consumption a month.
NGOs generally urged rich countries --who consumed excessive fuel oil that generated global warming-- to provide compensation in the form of adaptation funds for developing states.
Even they wanted developed nations to write off developing nations' debts.
Activists of the Civil Society Forum called on advanced states to write off developing countries' debts which they said had led to the exploitation of natural resources and increasing poverty in developing nations.
While celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol, they held a peaceful rally on the premises of the Westin Hotel, the venue of the on-going international conference on climate change.
The forum said that developing countries, in the name of development, often fought for large-scale projects such forest felling, exploitation of mineral resources and fossil energy sponsored by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
The forum spokesman, Anida Haryatmo, said the loans developing countries had obtained from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank had adversely created poverty among their peoples, destroyed the environment and caused the swelling of the debts of Southern countries.
Because damage to the environment was closely related to the climate problem, the forum urged Southern countries to build strength to demand the writing off of their debts so that they would be able to finance the crisis they were facing as a result of climate change.
On the need for the adaptation funds for developing countries, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) researchers urged developed nations to immediately discuss adaptation funds as the key to the solution of problems being discussed at the UNFCCC conference.
Kevin Watkins, the lead author of a report titled "Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World", said rich countries had left poor countries in the lurch, putting the latter in a state of "sinking or swimming" without any support.
The report on the impact of climate change on global development in 2007/2008 pointed out an imbalanced trend in the funding sector to adapt to climate change.
The UNDP said the trend may lead to an apartheid-style adaptation phenomenon as poor countries would be left sinking alone and forced to rely on their own capacity without significant support from rich countries.
Speaking at a press conference held on the occasion of the climate change meeting, Kavin said it was high time for developed nations "to step forward" with regard to adaptation funds.
In its Human Development Report, UNDP predicted adaptation funds needed by 2015 would be US$86 billion per year.
"The figure seems very large but actually it only accounts for 0.2 percent of rich countries' GDP," he said.
Adaptation funds derived from all multilateral funding sources in the past two years amounted to only US$26 million, which is equal to the amount of funds spent by Britain on a flood-control project for a week, he said. (A014/A/HNG/A/E002)
REDD ON CLIMATE CHANGE CANNOT GIVE MUCH BENEFIT
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Nov 28 (ANTARA) - The Adaptation Fund is one of the topics that will be discussed in the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the Indonesian tourist resort island of Bali next week.
Delegates from over 160 countries are expected to attend the two-week conference to address increasing global warming that poses a threat to the planet and its inhabitants.
As host country, Indonesia has drafted a mechanism plan called Reductions of Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD). The REDD will be proposed by developing countries to the conference to gain financial incentives from developed states.
Under the REDD scheme, developing countries would market tons of carbon stored in their forests to developed countries who have obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emission.
"The REDD is to be proposed by developing countries who have tropical rain forests as one of the schemes designed to address climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012," Minister of the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said.
The Kyoto Protocol, which entered into force in 2005, laid down the practical commitments assumed by states party to implement the Framework Convention's goal of mitigating global warming.
Indonesia, host of 120.3 million hectares of forests, will set aside 37.5 million hectares of its forests for the REDD project. "If one hectare is paid US$10 a year, Indonesia will gain US$3.75 billion every year," the minister said.
Minister Rachmat Witoelar said that at present, developed states were estimated to have set adaptation fund program amounting to between US$20 and US$30 billion a year.
The REDD scheme is however not viewed to be a maximal means for addressing climate change problem. "The so called REDD mechanism designed to reduce gas emission from deforestation in developing countries cannot be a single tool to address climate change," Emil Salim, environment expert and Indonesian chief negotiator for the UNFCCC in Bali, said.
He said that the REDD would not create direct impact because pollution would continue to take place in line with the process. In case of Indonesia, it would be required to make a national action plan on climate change.
"There must be a period of time to last before the REDD's impact could be felt. Therefore, we should continue to mitigate and adapt to climate change whose influence has been felt by Indonesia today," Emil Salim said.
In the meantime, Elfian Effendi, executive director of Greenomics Indonesia, a natural resources advocacy non-governmental organization, said the REDD scheme with which Indonesia is expected to get US$3.75 billion incentive a year, belittled the economic value of Indonesian forests.
He said Indonesian forests held 7,000 megatons of carbon concentration with an economic value of about US$134.5 billion.
Advanced countries must pay 134.5 billion dollars if they wanted to prevent Indonesia from releasing 7,000 megatons of carbon into the atmosphere through deforestation.
Virtually, Indonesia has a strong bargaining position it could use to fight for its goals in Bali conference. Indonesia's forests function as the world's biggest carbon absorbers and place of carbon concentration.
According to Elfian, Indonesia still had 36.5 million hectares of conservation and protected forests, which, due to its ability to absorb carbon, had an economic value of about 105-113.7 billion US dollars.
Besides protected forests, Indonesia also still has another 36.7 million hectares of production forests which have an economic value of about 111.46 - 120.74 billion dollars.
The combined economic value of the protected and production forests, due to their capacity to absorb carbon, reached between 216.4 and 234.4 billion, he said.
"If advanced states want Indonesia to be at zero deforestation position on its production forests, they have to pay some 278.6 billion dollars as compensation," Elfian said
Therefore, Elfian suggested that Indonesia should not be too ambitious about the REDD mechanism because it would adversely reduce the economic value of Indonesia's forests.
According to Elfian, the REDD would be difficult to be applied in Indonesia because law enforcement in the country is still weak. "There are 18 institutions who failed to apply Presidential Instruction No. 4 / 2005 on Illegal Logging and Log Smuggling," he said.
The REDD scheme has the potential to put a burden on the state budget because based on the REDD provision, if the forests set aside for the REDD conservation program, are cut down illegally, Indonesia must pay a compensation.
"The resource to pay the compensation will surely come from the state budget while the burden that has been borne by the state budget has been very heavy," Elfian said.
Therefore, Elfian called on the Indonesian delegation to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to propose a debt write-off to advanced states because at present foreign debts are posing a heavy burden to Indonesia.
"In 2008, the installment payments of Indonesia's foreign debts will reach Rp151.2 trillion while its revenues from the exploitation of its natural resources reached only Rp119 trillion," Effendi said. (A014/A/HNG/b005) 2. 00:10 (T.A014/A/A014/B005) 29-11-2007 00:09:50
Jakarta, Nov 28 (ANTARA) - The Adaptation Fund is one of the topics that will be discussed in the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the Indonesian tourist resort island of Bali next week.
Delegates from over 160 countries are expected to attend the two-week conference to address increasing global warming that poses a threat to the planet and its inhabitants.
As host country, Indonesia has drafted a mechanism plan called Reductions of Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD). The REDD will be proposed by developing countries to the conference to gain financial incentives from developed states.
Under the REDD scheme, developing countries would market tons of carbon stored in their forests to developed countries who have obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emission.
"The REDD is to be proposed by developing countries who have tropical rain forests as one of the schemes designed to address climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012," Minister of the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said.
The Kyoto Protocol, which entered into force in 2005, laid down the practical commitments assumed by states party to implement the Framework Convention's goal of mitigating global warming.
Indonesia, host of 120.3 million hectares of forests, will set aside 37.5 million hectares of its forests for the REDD project. "If one hectare is paid US$10 a year, Indonesia will gain US$3.75 billion every year," the minister said.
Minister Rachmat Witoelar said that at present, developed states were estimated to have set adaptation fund program amounting to between US$20 and US$30 billion a year.
The REDD scheme is however not viewed to be a maximal means for addressing climate change problem. "The so called REDD mechanism designed to reduce gas emission from deforestation in developing countries cannot be a single tool to address climate change," Emil Salim, environment expert and Indonesian chief negotiator for the UNFCCC in Bali, said.
He said that the REDD would not create direct impact because pollution would continue to take place in line with the process. In case of Indonesia, it would be required to make a national action plan on climate change.
"There must be a period of time to last before the REDD's impact could be felt. Therefore, we should continue to mitigate and adapt to climate change whose influence has been felt by Indonesia today," Emil Salim said.
In the meantime, Elfian Effendi, executive director of Greenomics Indonesia, a natural resources advocacy non-governmental organization, said the REDD scheme with which Indonesia is expected to get US$3.75 billion incentive a year, belittled the economic value of Indonesian forests.
He said Indonesian forests held 7,000 megatons of carbon concentration with an economic value of about US$134.5 billion.
Advanced countries must pay 134.5 billion dollars if they wanted to prevent Indonesia from releasing 7,000 megatons of carbon into the atmosphere through deforestation.
Virtually, Indonesia has a strong bargaining position it could use to fight for its goals in Bali conference. Indonesia's forests function as the world's biggest carbon absorbers and place of carbon concentration.
According to Elfian, Indonesia still had 36.5 million hectares of conservation and protected forests, which, due to its ability to absorb carbon, had an economic value of about 105-113.7 billion US dollars.
Besides protected forests, Indonesia also still has another 36.7 million hectares of production forests which have an economic value of about 111.46 - 120.74 billion dollars.
The combined economic value of the protected and production forests, due to their capacity to absorb carbon, reached between 216.4 and 234.4 billion, he said.
"If advanced states want Indonesia to be at zero deforestation position on its production forests, they have to pay some 278.6 billion dollars as compensation," Elfian said
Therefore, Elfian suggested that Indonesia should not be too ambitious about the REDD mechanism because it would adversely reduce the economic value of Indonesia's forests.
According to Elfian, the REDD would be difficult to be applied in Indonesia because law enforcement in the country is still weak. "There are 18 institutions who failed to apply Presidential Instruction No. 4 / 2005 on Illegal Logging and Log Smuggling," he said.
The REDD scheme has the potential to put a burden on the state budget because based on the REDD provision, if the forests set aside for the REDD conservation program, are cut down illegally, Indonesia must pay a compensation.
"The resource to pay the compensation will surely come from the state budget while the burden that has been borne by the state budget has been very heavy," Elfian said.
Therefore, Elfian called on the Indonesian delegation to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to propose a debt write-off to advanced states because at present foreign debts are posing a heavy burden to Indonesia.
"In 2008, the installment payments of Indonesia's foreign debts will reach Rp151.2 trillion while its revenues from the exploitation of its natural resources reached only Rp119 trillion," Effendi said. (A014/A/HNG/b005) 2. 00:10 (T.A014/A/A014/B005) 29-11-2007 00:09:50
RI WANTS CONCRETE ACTIONS ON GLOBAL WARMING
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Sept 10 (ANTARA) - Indonesia which will host the 13th UN convention on climate change next December, hopes that the parties involved in the conference will take concrete actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"We hope the United Nations Convention on Climate Change in Bali will be successful and that the parties involved in it will make concrete efforts to deal with climate change," Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said on the sidelines of the APEC meeting in Sydney on Sunday.
The Indonesian foreign minister's hope was voiced as little progress was reported to have been made by greenhouse gas producing countries in complying with the guidelines set forth in the Kyoto Protocol, a consensus reached by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNCCC) at its annual meeting in Japan in 1997.
The UNFCCC itself was formed in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 by countries concerned about climate change and global warming. It focused its attention on the question of saving the earth from the consequences of global warming.
Called Conference of Parties (COP), the organization in its Kyoto meeting produced the Protocol which required advanced nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions to 5.2 percent in the 2008-2012 period.
Unluckily, not all countries approved the Kyoto protocol. According to Sudarjono, deputy to the environment minister for environmental communications and community development, the United States and Australia are among countries that rejected the protocol.
The Environment Ministry official said the United States, the world's largest producer of carbon emissions, had persistently refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
Viewed from the greenhouse gas emission aspect, the United States was requested to reduce its gas emission to 24.2 percent, Russia to 17.4 percent, Japan to 8.5 percent, Canada to 3.3 percent and Australia to 2.1 percent.
Indonesia in its capacity as would-be host of the UNCCC is trying its best to make the global efforts a success.
"Concrete actions are badly needed," Hassan Wirajuda said. Indonesia is determined to take immediate and concrete steps such as conducting reforestations on its denuded lands, he said.
He called on Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member countries to take concrete actions to jointly overcome the climate change problem.
Indonesia as a developing country acknowledged during the APEC Summit that climate change and sustainable development were important issues. It pushed ahead with its proposals. As a result, agreements on climate change, energy preservation and clean development were made during the APEC summit in Sydney.
He said it would be ironical if the 21-member APEC forum had not discussed the climate change issue because the UN Convention on the matter would be held in one of the APEC member countries next December.
"So far, the European Union and G-8's (Group of Eight developed nations) forums have also been discussing matters related to climate change. It would be ironical if APEC has no idea about it before the convention is held," the foreign minister said.
Thanks to the efforts, the leaders of 21 APEC member countries promised to give full support to Indonesia as president of the 13th Conference of Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC to be held in Bali December 2-14, 2007.
The APEC leaders declared at the end of their summit that some of those involved in the UNFCCC agreed to work effectively and constructively toward enacting regulations in the run up to the year 2012.
In its efforts to take follow up actions on cutting its gas emissions, Indonesia obtained funds amounting to US$20 million from the United States and A$100 million from Australia.
During the APEC Summit on Saturday US President George W Bush pledged to give US$20 million to Indonesia to help its reforestation program. In the meantime, Indonesia and Australia signed a partnership agreement on forests and climate preservation in Kalimantan worth A$100 million.
Indonesia has been ranked in fourth position on the list of the biggest contributors to global warming as a result of the high level of its forest fires.
"If forest fires are taken into account, Indonesia would occupy the fourth place on the list of biggest contributors to global warming. However, if seen from the concentration of its greenhouse and transportation gas emissions, Indonesia is still in the 13th position," Sudarjono, a senior environment official said.
With the US and Australian assistance, Indonesia was expected to be able to take concrete actions. For example, the partnership with Australia will enable Indonesia to conserve at least 200,000 hectares of peat land and to plant 100 million trees in Kalimantan.
"With this cooperation it is expected that at least 700 million tons of green house gas emissions will be eliminated in the coming 30 years," Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said. (A014/A/HAJM/B/S012) 18:32/... ) (T.A014/A/A014/A/S012) 10-09-2007 18:33:38
Jakarta, Sept 10 (ANTARA) - Indonesia which will host the 13th UN convention on climate change next December, hopes that the parties involved in the conference will take concrete actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"We hope the United Nations Convention on Climate Change in Bali will be successful and that the parties involved in it will make concrete efforts to deal with climate change," Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said on the sidelines of the APEC meeting in Sydney on Sunday.
The Indonesian foreign minister's hope was voiced as little progress was reported to have been made by greenhouse gas producing countries in complying with the guidelines set forth in the Kyoto Protocol, a consensus reached by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNCCC) at its annual meeting in Japan in 1997.
The UNFCCC itself was formed in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 by countries concerned about climate change and global warming. It focused its attention on the question of saving the earth from the consequences of global warming.
Called Conference of Parties (COP), the organization in its Kyoto meeting produced the Protocol which required advanced nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions to 5.2 percent in the 2008-2012 period.
Unluckily, not all countries approved the Kyoto protocol. According to Sudarjono, deputy to the environment minister for environmental communications and community development, the United States and Australia are among countries that rejected the protocol.
The Environment Ministry official said the United States, the world's largest producer of carbon emissions, had persistently refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
Viewed from the greenhouse gas emission aspect, the United States was requested to reduce its gas emission to 24.2 percent, Russia to 17.4 percent, Japan to 8.5 percent, Canada to 3.3 percent and Australia to 2.1 percent.
Indonesia in its capacity as would-be host of the UNCCC is trying its best to make the global efforts a success.
"Concrete actions are badly needed," Hassan Wirajuda said. Indonesia is determined to take immediate and concrete steps such as conducting reforestations on its denuded lands, he said.
He called on Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member countries to take concrete actions to jointly overcome the climate change problem.
Indonesia as a developing country acknowledged during the APEC Summit that climate change and sustainable development were important issues. It pushed ahead with its proposals. As a result, agreements on climate change, energy preservation and clean development were made during the APEC summit in Sydney.
He said it would be ironical if the 21-member APEC forum had not discussed the climate change issue because the UN Convention on the matter would be held in one of the APEC member countries next December.
"So far, the European Union and G-8's (Group of Eight developed nations) forums have also been discussing matters related to climate change. It would be ironical if APEC has no idea about it before the convention is held," the foreign minister said.
Thanks to the efforts, the leaders of 21 APEC member countries promised to give full support to Indonesia as president of the 13th Conference of Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC to be held in Bali December 2-14, 2007.
The APEC leaders declared at the end of their summit that some of those involved in the UNFCCC agreed to work effectively and constructively toward enacting regulations in the run up to the year 2012.
In its efforts to take follow up actions on cutting its gas emissions, Indonesia obtained funds amounting to US$20 million from the United States and A$100 million from Australia.
During the APEC Summit on Saturday US President George W Bush pledged to give US$20 million to Indonesia to help its reforestation program. In the meantime, Indonesia and Australia signed a partnership agreement on forests and climate preservation in Kalimantan worth A$100 million.
Indonesia has been ranked in fourth position on the list of the biggest contributors to global warming as a result of the high level of its forest fires.
"If forest fires are taken into account, Indonesia would occupy the fourth place on the list of biggest contributors to global warming. However, if seen from the concentration of its greenhouse and transportation gas emissions, Indonesia is still in the 13th position," Sudarjono, a senior environment official said.
With the US and Australian assistance, Indonesia was expected to be able to take concrete actions. For example, the partnership with Australia will enable Indonesia to conserve at least 200,000 hectares of peat land and to plant 100 million trees in Kalimantan.
"With this cooperation it is expected that at least 700 million tons of green house gas emissions will be eliminated in the coming 30 years," Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said. (A014/A/HAJM/B/S012) 18:32/... ) (T.A014/A/A014/A/S012) 10-09-2007 18:33:38
INDONESIA'S NUKE REACTOR PROGRAM STILL HANGING IN THE BALANCE
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, June 25 (ANTARA) - Indonesia's 30 year-old effort to build a nuclear power plant in Central Java to increase the declining electricity supplies for its power consumers has continued to face opposition from local people.
The government has conducted feasibility studies for about 30 years in order to enable it to build a nuclear reactor in Muria peninsula, Jepara district, Central Java, but environmentalists and local residents still doubt the government's ability to provide safe technology.
"We doubt the ability of the government to operate and manage a nuclear reactor," coordinator of the Jepara Residents Forum Lilo Sunaryo was quoted as saying by Republika daily on Monday.
In response to the opposition, the government is monitoring people's reactions and trying to explain to them the results of the research it has conducted for about three decades.
Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said the government's plan to set up a nuclear power plant was not yet final. But he said the government appreciated the people's objections to its plan to build a nuclear power plant in the area.
He said his office was keeping a close watch on what was being done to implement the plan, including the tackling of the project's environmental aspects which normally had to be done by an analysis and assessment of the project's possible impact on the local environment.
As long as the proposed nuclear power plant had not yet been built, the plan should be considered as just a "discourse" so that there was no need for people to make a fuss about it too often, Witoelar said.
The peril of a nuclear incident is the main reason behind the people's opposition. The explosion of Chernobyl's nuclear reactor in Russia in 1986 and the leakage at Mihama's nuclear reactor in Japan in 2004 are still fresh in their minds. In Chernobyl, ten years after the leakage, thousands of people died of exposure to discharged radioactive material.
Indonesia's experience --through its National Atomic Energy Agency (BATAN) which has three nuclear reactors in Yoyakarta, Bandung and Serpong-- to operate nuclear reactors has not erased people's doubts.
Lilo said the three reactors were of small scale with temperatures ranging between 100 and 150 degrees Celsius. They were normal types of reactors designed purely for research.
A nuclear power reactor needs 2.5 million litters of water per minute to be used as a coolant for the temperature in the plant which could reach between 400 Celsius degrees to 600 Celsius degrees.
If it leaks, the water that gushes out can be as hot as 3,000 degres Celsius which is able to melt iron. This is apart from the radioactive material it would discharge to the environment.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) data show that nuclear waste radiation would last for 24 thousand years.
Yet, BATAN officials assured that the technology to protect people from possible incidents had been prepared.
BATAN head Hudi Hastowo was quoted by Republika as saying that the nuclear power reactor that would be built in Japara would use internationally standardized technologies.
Before starting to build a nuclear power reactor, the agency had carried out 30 years of feasibility studies with consultants from the IAEA in 1976, from Italy in 1984, from BECHTEL (US) in 1984 and from the United State-Japan) in 1994.
Hastowo said the BATAN reactor in Serpong is not of a small scale as claimed by Lilo. It can generate up to 30 megawatt of electricity. Batan technicians already have the experience to operate a nuclear reactor for 20 years.
The Muria nuclear reactor is being prepared with high security system. BATAN is considering using the pressurized water reactor system. This technology is able to resist chained fusion reaction, which is normally called China syndrome. The reactor would automatically shut down when the syndrome takes place.
With the technology, the Indonesian people are advised to support the national nuclear energy development program and can rest assured they will be adequately protected from the radiation hazards associated with nuclear power plants.
"Technology always poses risks, so does the use of nuclear energy. But this should not lead us to consider nuclear technology negatively as Indonesia will need huge energy sources in the future," Sukarman Aminjoyo, head of the Nuclear Energy Supervisory Agency (Bapeten), said.
Despite people's trauma over the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs and the Chernobyl nuclear accident, Indonesia had already been making beneficial use of nuclear technology for years, namely in the application of radiation technology in the food and beverage industries, Sukarman noted.
Amidst the pros and cons on the nuclear power reactor plan, the government is still collecting inputs from the people. "The people's objections to the development of a nuclear power reactor are a valuable input for the government," Minister Witoelar said.
After all, nuclear reactor ranked lower than bio-fuel, wind power and geothermal on the list of various alternative energy sources Indonesia intended to develop to reduce its dependence on fossil fuel oils, he said. (A014/A/HAJM/B003) 2. 21:15. (T.A014/A/A014/B003) 25-06-2007 21:36:01
Jakarta, June 25 (ANTARA) - Indonesia's 30 year-old effort to build a nuclear power plant in Central Java to increase the declining electricity supplies for its power consumers has continued to face opposition from local people.
The government has conducted feasibility studies for about 30 years in order to enable it to build a nuclear reactor in Muria peninsula, Jepara district, Central Java, but environmentalists and local residents still doubt the government's ability to provide safe technology.
"We doubt the ability of the government to operate and manage a nuclear reactor," coordinator of the Jepara Residents Forum Lilo Sunaryo was quoted as saying by Republika daily on Monday.
In response to the opposition, the government is monitoring people's reactions and trying to explain to them the results of the research it has conducted for about three decades.
Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said the government's plan to set up a nuclear power plant was not yet final. But he said the government appreciated the people's objections to its plan to build a nuclear power plant in the area.
He said his office was keeping a close watch on what was being done to implement the plan, including the tackling of the project's environmental aspects which normally had to be done by an analysis and assessment of the project's possible impact on the local environment.
As long as the proposed nuclear power plant had not yet been built, the plan should be considered as just a "discourse" so that there was no need for people to make a fuss about it too often, Witoelar said.
The peril of a nuclear incident is the main reason behind the people's opposition. The explosion of Chernobyl's nuclear reactor in Russia in 1986 and the leakage at Mihama's nuclear reactor in Japan in 2004 are still fresh in their minds. In Chernobyl, ten years after the leakage, thousands of people died of exposure to discharged radioactive material.
Indonesia's experience --through its National Atomic Energy Agency (BATAN) which has three nuclear reactors in Yoyakarta, Bandung and Serpong-- to operate nuclear reactors has not erased people's doubts.
Lilo said the three reactors were of small scale with temperatures ranging between 100 and 150 degrees Celsius. They were normal types of reactors designed purely for research.
A nuclear power reactor needs 2.5 million litters of water per minute to be used as a coolant for the temperature in the plant which could reach between 400 Celsius degrees to 600 Celsius degrees.
If it leaks, the water that gushes out can be as hot as 3,000 degres Celsius which is able to melt iron. This is apart from the radioactive material it would discharge to the environment.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) data show that nuclear waste radiation would last for 24 thousand years.
Yet, BATAN officials assured that the technology to protect people from possible incidents had been prepared.
BATAN head Hudi Hastowo was quoted by Republika as saying that the nuclear power reactor that would be built in Japara would use internationally standardized technologies.
Before starting to build a nuclear power reactor, the agency had carried out 30 years of feasibility studies with consultants from the IAEA in 1976, from Italy in 1984, from BECHTEL (US) in 1984 and from the United State-Japan) in 1994.
Hastowo said the BATAN reactor in Serpong is not of a small scale as claimed by Lilo. It can generate up to 30 megawatt of electricity. Batan technicians already have the experience to operate a nuclear reactor for 20 years.
The Muria nuclear reactor is being prepared with high security system. BATAN is considering using the pressurized water reactor system. This technology is able to resist chained fusion reaction, which is normally called China syndrome. The reactor would automatically shut down when the syndrome takes place.
With the technology, the Indonesian people are advised to support the national nuclear energy development program and can rest assured they will be adequately protected from the radiation hazards associated with nuclear power plants.
"Technology always poses risks, so does the use of nuclear energy. But this should not lead us to consider nuclear technology negatively as Indonesia will need huge energy sources in the future," Sukarman Aminjoyo, head of the Nuclear Energy Supervisory Agency (Bapeten), said.
Despite people's trauma over the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs and the Chernobyl nuclear accident, Indonesia had already been making beneficial use of nuclear technology for years, namely in the application of radiation technology in the food and beverage industries, Sukarman noted.
Amidst the pros and cons on the nuclear power reactor plan, the government is still collecting inputs from the people. "The people's objections to the development of a nuclear power reactor are a valuable input for the government," Minister Witoelar said.
After all, nuclear reactor ranked lower than bio-fuel, wind power and geothermal on the list of various alternative energy sources Indonesia intended to develop to reduce its dependence on fossil fuel oils, he said. (A014/A/HAJM/B003) 2. 21:15. (T.A014/A/A014/B003) 25-06-2007 21:36:01
INONESIAN GOVT HUNTING DOWN HAZE CULPRITS
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Aug 27 (ANTARA)- Against the backdrop of mounting complaints at home and abroad over the perils of annual haze, Indonesian law enforcers are making arrests and quizzing plantation companies suspected to be responsible for forest fires in several parts of the country.
Police have arrested 20 people in Sumatra's Riau province and will quiz at least six plantation firms in Kalimantan over alleged roles in land and forest fires which have created haze and disturbed health, trade, land, sea and air transportations these past weeks.
The arrests were made about a week after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono voiced his dissatisfaction over regional governments' inability to prevent and overcome forest fires in their respective provinces.
"We can still witness various fires in the last several weeks. We really regret their occurrence because all of these are related to the lack of responsibility, attention and leadership of the regional governments concerned," the President told Regional Representatives Council (DPD) at the parliament building last week.
The President had previously in June called on ministers concerned, provincial governors, district chiefs and mayors to jointly prevent and anticipate forest and land fires and to handle them whenever they occur.
In order to take follow up steps, the President summoned his relevant ministers to instruct legal sanction against plantation owners who used fires to clear forest areas for plantations. "Those who set forests on fire, mostly big plantation companies, must get legal sanction," Communications Minister Sofyan Djalil said quoting the Head of State.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla has also ordered police to take firm actions against those responsible for forest fires. "I have ordered the Riau Police chief to take stern actions and I have received reports that about 20 forest fire suspects in the province had been arrested," Kalla said.
The Vice President said police made the arrests on the suspects who included Indonesian businessmen and of a Malaysian plantation company.
In West Kalimantan, police will query executives of six plantation companies in whose operational areas hot spots have been detected.
The police would thus ask help from civil servant interrogators and the Environment Ministry to observe the location of the hot spots, West Kalimantan Police chief Brig Gen Nanan Soekarna was quoted as saying.
Nanan said the six plantation companies were located in Pontianak and Sambas districts. The civil servants interrogator team and the Environment Ministry officials would arrive here to conduct the inspection on Tuesday (Aug 29).
Law No. 23/1997 on environmental management stipulates a 10-year imprisonment and US$50,000-fine for people setting forests and land on fire for land clearing.
The law was enacted when the ASEAN region was plagued by the worst-ever haze crisis that cost it some 9.0 billion dollars due to air travel, tourism and other business disruptions in 1997-98.
Annual forest fires in Indonesia notably in Sumatra and Kalimantan always affect its neighboring countries as Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam and Thailand.
At Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) talks held in Kuala Lumpur last week, Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said that Indonesia should take tough action to resolve the recurring issue.
The current measures by the Indonesian government, however, are not being taken because of overseas pressure only but also because of the perils suffered at home.
"The government was making the efforts not because of pressure from overseas but because of the interest of people at home," Vice President Jusuf Kalla said.
"It is not Kuala Lumpur alone which has complained. It was the people of Riau (Sumatra) and Pontianak (West Kalimantan) who have complained in the first place. Compared to the disturbance in Kuala Lumpur, the one in Pontianak has caused students to be unable to go to school," the Vice President said.
He was referring to the haze problem which has been taking place in the five provinces of Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan.
In recent days, the forest fire-triggered haze has created health problems and delayed flights in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
Thick haze blanketed Jambi on Friday causing visibility to drop to between 200 and 250 meters. Motorists have to turn on their head lights in order to avoid collision as the haze was obstructing visibility.
The local health service reported that over the past week the number of people suffering from respiratory infection increased to about 10,000 people. People in Riau province have also suffered from respiratory infection.
Airport, river and sea transportation activities from and to Jambi during the past few days were also disturbed.
Even in West Kalimantan, visibility was down to less than the normal standard of 800 meters on Thursday, leading to the suspension of flights from and to the provincial capital Pontianak.
Two airplanes plying the Jakarta-Pontianak route aborted their flights when they were on their way to the capital of West Kalimantan after visibility in Supadio airport was down to 400 meters on Thursday. "With a visibility of only 400 meters, the life of passengers are at stake," officials said.
President Yudhoyono ordered Chief Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie to conduct cloud seeding and to drop water bombs in order to put out forest fires. For this purpose, the government has set aside Rp1 billion to Rp2 billion to finance the cloud seeding.
Hercules planes will be used to drop water bombs to the scenes of hotposts. "Each of the planes would carry about 8,000 liters of water to be dropped over the scene of forest fires," State Minister of Research and Technology Kusmayanto Kadiman said meanwhile.
(T.AO14/A/b003/B003). (T.SYS/A/A014/C/B003) 27-08-2006
Jakarta, Aug 27 (ANTARA)- Against the backdrop of mounting complaints at home and abroad over the perils of annual haze, Indonesian law enforcers are making arrests and quizzing plantation companies suspected to be responsible for forest fires in several parts of the country.
Police have arrested 20 people in Sumatra's Riau province and will quiz at least six plantation firms in Kalimantan over alleged roles in land and forest fires which have created haze and disturbed health, trade, land, sea and air transportations these past weeks.
The arrests were made about a week after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono voiced his dissatisfaction over regional governments' inability to prevent and overcome forest fires in their respective provinces.
"We can still witness various fires in the last several weeks. We really regret their occurrence because all of these are related to the lack of responsibility, attention and leadership of the regional governments concerned," the President told Regional Representatives Council (DPD) at the parliament building last week.
The President had previously in June called on ministers concerned, provincial governors, district chiefs and mayors to jointly prevent and anticipate forest and land fires and to handle them whenever they occur.
In order to take follow up steps, the President summoned his relevant ministers to instruct legal sanction against plantation owners who used fires to clear forest areas for plantations. "Those who set forests on fire, mostly big plantation companies, must get legal sanction," Communications Minister Sofyan Djalil said quoting the Head of State.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla has also ordered police to take firm actions against those responsible for forest fires. "I have ordered the Riau Police chief to take stern actions and I have received reports that about 20 forest fire suspects in the province had been arrested," Kalla said.
The Vice President said police made the arrests on the suspects who included Indonesian businessmen and of a Malaysian plantation company.
In West Kalimantan, police will query executives of six plantation companies in whose operational areas hot spots have been detected.
The police would thus ask help from civil servant interrogators and the Environment Ministry to observe the location of the hot spots, West Kalimantan Police chief Brig Gen Nanan Soekarna was quoted as saying.
Nanan said the six plantation companies were located in Pontianak and Sambas districts. The civil servants interrogator team and the Environment Ministry officials would arrive here to conduct the inspection on Tuesday (Aug 29).
Law No. 23/1997 on environmental management stipulates a 10-year imprisonment and US$50,000-fine for people setting forests and land on fire for land clearing.
The law was enacted when the ASEAN region was plagued by the worst-ever haze crisis that cost it some 9.0 billion dollars due to air travel, tourism and other business disruptions in 1997-98.
Annual forest fires in Indonesia notably in Sumatra and Kalimantan always affect its neighboring countries as Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam and Thailand.
At Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) talks held in Kuala Lumpur last week, Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said that Indonesia should take tough action to resolve the recurring issue.
The current measures by the Indonesian government, however, are not being taken because of overseas pressure only but also because of the perils suffered at home.
"The government was making the efforts not because of pressure from overseas but because of the interest of people at home," Vice President Jusuf Kalla said.
"It is not Kuala Lumpur alone which has complained. It was the people of Riau (Sumatra) and Pontianak (West Kalimantan) who have complained in the first place. Compared to the disturbance in Kuala Lumpur, the one in Pontianak has caused students to be unable to go to school," the Vice President said.
He was referring to the haze problem which has been taking place in the five provinces of Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan.
In recent days, the forest fire-triggered haze has created health problems and delayed flights in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
Thick haze blanketed Jambi on Friday causing visibility to drop to between 200 and 250 meters. Motorists have to turn on their head lights in order to avoid collision as the haze was obstructing visibility.
The local health service reported that over the past week the number of people suffering from respiratory infection increased to about 10,000 people. People in Riau province have also suffered from respiratory infection.
Airport, river and sea transportation activities from and to Jambi during the past few days were also disturbed.
Even in West Kalimantan, visibility was down to less than the normal standard of 800 meters on Thursday, leading to the suspension of flights from and to the provincial capital Pontianak.
Two airplanes plying the Jakarta-Pontianak route aborted their flights when they were on their way to the capital of West Kalimantan after visibility in Supadio airport was down to 400 meters on Thursday. "With a visibility of only 400 meters, the life of passengers are at stake," officials said.
President Yudhoyono ordered Chief Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie to conduct cloud seeding and to drop water bombs in order to put out forest fires. For this purpose, the government has set aside Rp1 billion to Rp2 billion to finance the cloud seeding.
Hercules planes will be used to drop water bombs to the scenes of hotposts. "Each of the planes would carry about 8,000 liters of water to be dropped over the scene of forest fires," State Minister of Research and Technology Kusmayanto Kadiman said meanwhile.
(T.AO14/A/b003/B003). (T.SYS/A/A014/C/B003) 27-08-2006
INDONESIA TURNING TO BIOFUEL
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, July 29 (ANTARA) - In the face of its depleting oil reserves and fluctuating world oil prices, Indonesia has launched an intensive biofuel production program aimed at cutting its fossil oil consumption by 10 percent in 2010.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono showed serious attention to development of bio-energy when he convened a limited cabinet meeting in Magelang, Central Java, this month, to discuss national energy policies and bio-energy action plans.
Besides reducing dependence on fossil fuels, the cultivation of biofuel crops such as oil palm, cassava, sugar cane and jatropha curcas crops was also seen as a way to help boost local economies.
"The development of biofuel or bio-diesel will create more jobs, reduce poverty, develop cooperatives and small businesses and re-green denuded land," the President said.
In order to carry out the program, the Indonesian government decided to set up a national team in charge of formulating policies for the development of bio-diesel or biofuel program.
Chaired by former manpower minister Al Hilal Hamdi, the national team will formulate policies, including on matters relating to cultivation of land, infrastructure, processing, marketing and funding.
With the program, Indonesia expects to be able eventually to reduce the use of fossil fuel oils by 10 percent in 2010, namely using bio-fuel to replace premium, kerosene, diesel oil and fuel oils used to generate electricity.
According to Al Hilal Hamdi, the kind of plantations which would be developed to produce bio-fuel would include oil palm, jatropha curcas, cassava and sugar cane.
He said some 6.5 million hectares would be made available for the development of bio-fuel. Thus it would provide employment for about three million workers and boost rural economies.
Of the 6.5 million hectares, three million hectares will be developed for oil palm, 1.5 million hectares for jatropha curcas, 500,000 hectares of sugarcane and 1.5 million hectares for cassava.
The investment per hectare was estimated at Rp30 million for oil palm, Rp15 million for sugarcane, Rp3 million for jatropha curcas and Rp3.5 million for cassava.
Hilal said that the program needed an estimated investment of Rp100 trillion (US$10.8 billion) in the sector within the next five years.
The government also unveiled a crash program to build 11 biofuel plants, with production targets of 187 million liters next year and 1.3 billion liters by 2010, or equivalent to 3 percent of the country's total fuel consumption of 41 million kiloliters in 2005.
Therefore, up to 2010, the use of fossil oils for the transportation sector is expected to be cut by 10 percent and by 50 percent in the power generation sector.
With the reduction in the use of fossil oils, the foreign exchange that could be economized would reach some 10 billion dollars, Hilal said.
Besides, he added, Indonesia would also export some 10 to 12 kiloliters of bio-fuel. "With this program, arid lands could be cultivated and self-reliant villages could be developed," he added.
Funding
In order to make the program a success, the government called on the banking world to help provide funds for bio-energy development, including the cultivation of jatropha curcas, cassava and sugarcane.
"Banks are requested to invest in the cultivation of jatropha curcas, cassava, sugarcane so as at the same time green arid land and help boost rural economic growth," Minister/State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra said after a meeting held at his office to discuss the development of alternative energy.
The government said it was optimistic that banks are potential institutions to provide funding. The government was seeing the possibility of raising Rp100 trillion from general banks to be allocated as loans to oil palm farmers.
"The funds are also available for cassava and sugar cane farming if it is commercial while the fund for development of jatropha curcas oil plantation will be made available by the government," Al Hilal Hamdi said.
According to the chief of the National Team for Bio-energy Development, the banks have asked for a government subsidy for the loans so that the farmers would only be required to pay around 10 percent interest.
Besides, the government is preparing fiscal incentives for investment, trade and research to expedite bio-energy development.
"We are preparing fiscal incentives such as tax holidays, tax allowances and reductions for research activities and value-added taxes," Hamdi said.
He said there were many companies that had expressed an interest to develop bio-energy including Sinar Mas, Argo Lestari, Molindo and PT HM Sampurna besides state-owned agro-companies and cooperatives.
Among foreign investors interested in it are CITIC from China, Itochu from Japan, Greenenergy from India and companies from the US and Italy. Japanese oil company Nippon Oil Corporation has also expressed interest to develop a bio-diesel plant in Jambi.
Besides, the Indonesian Cooperatives Board (Dekopin) was planning to construct jatropha curcas processing plants. Dekopin Chairman Adi Sasono said Dekopin would build the processing factories in an effort to produce an energy source that can replace fossil fuel oils.
"We are considering the building of jatropha curcas oil factories for instance in Sukabumi, West Java, which is near Jakarta," Adi Sasono said.
To make its program a success, the government called on the public not to hesitate to cultivate biofuel crops. It gave the assurance that it would absorb biofuel production no matter how much.
"We have two major stand-by buyers, namely state-owned Pertamina for the transportation sector and state power firm PLN for the electricity sector," Research and Technology Minister Kusmayanto Kadiman said.
(T.A014/A/HAJM/B/O001) 19:00/ ) (T.A014/A/A014/A/H-AJM/O001) 29-07-2006 19:48:34
Jakarta, July 29 (ANTARA) - In the face of its depleting oil reserves and fluctuating world oil prices, Indonesia has launched an intensive biofuel production program aimed at cutting its fossil oil consumption by 10 percent in 2010.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono showed serious attention to development of bio-energy when he convened a limited cabinet meeting in Magelang, Central Java, this month, to discuss national energy policies and bio-energy action plans.
Besides reducing dependence on fossil fuels, the cultivation of biofuel crops such as oil palm, cassava, sugar cane and jatropha curcas crops was also seen as a way to help boost local economies.
"The development of biofuel or bio-diesel will create more jobs, reduce poverty, develop cooperatives and small businesses and re-green denuded land," the President said.
In order to carry out the program, the Indonesian government decided to set up a national team in charge of formulating policies for the development of bio-diesel or biofuel program.
Chaired by former manpower minister Al Hilal Hamdi, the national team will formulate policies, including on matters relating to cultivation of land, infrastructure, processing, marketing and funding.
With the program, Indonesia expects to be able eventually to reduce the use of fossil fuel oils by 10 percent in 2010, namely using bio-fuel to replace premium, kerosene, diesel oil and fuel oils used to generate electricity.
According to Al Hilal Hamdi, the kind of plantations which would be developed to produce bio-fuel would include oil palm, jatropha curcas, cassava and sugar cane.
He said some 6.5 million hectares would be made available for the development of bio-fuel. Thus it would provide employment for about three million workers and boost rural economies.
Of the 6.5 million hectares, three million hectares will be developed for oil palm, 1.5 million hectares for jatropha curcas, 500,000 hectares of sugarcane and 1.5 million hectares for cassava.
The investment per hectare was estimated at Rp30 million for oil palm, Rp15 million for sugarcane, Rp3 million for jatropha curcas and Rp3.5 million for cassava.
Hilal said that the program needed an estimated investment of Rp100 trillion (US$10.8 billion) in the sector within the next five years.
The government also unveiled a crash program to build 11 biofuel plants, with production targets of 187 million liters next year and 1.3 billion liters by 2010, or equivalent to 3 percent of the country's total fuel consumption of 41 million kiloliters in 2005.
Therefore, up to 2010, the use of fossil oils for the transportation sector is expected to be cut by 10 percent and by 50 percent in the power generation sector.
With the reduction in the use of fossil oils, the foreign exchange that could be economized would reach some 10 billion dollars, Hilal said.
Besides, he added, Indonesia would also export some 10 to 12 kiloliters of bio-fuel. "With this program, arid lands could be cultivated and self-reliant villages could be developed," he added.
Funding
In order to make the program a success, the government called on the banking world to help provide funds for bio-energy development, including the cultivation of jatropha curcas, cassava and sugarcane.
"Banks are requested to invest in the cultivation of jatropha curcas, cassava, sugarcane so as at the same time green arid land and help boost rural economic growth," Minister/State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra said after a meeting held at his office to discuss the development of alternative energy.
The government said it was optimistic that banks are potential institutions to provide funding. The government was seeing the possibility of raising Rp100 trillion from general banks to be allocated as loans to oil palm farmers.
"The funds are also available for cassava and sugar cane farming if it is commercial while the fund for development of jatropha curcas oil plantation will be made available by the government," Al Hilal Hamdi said.
According to the chief of the National Team for Bio-energy Development, the banks have asked for a government subsidy for the loans so that the farmers would only be required to pay around 10 percent interest.
Besides, the government is preparing fiscal incentives for investment, trade and research to expedite bio-energy development.
"We are preparing fiscal incentives such as tax holidays, tax allowances and reductions for research activities and value-added taxes," Hamdi said.
He said there were many companies that had expressed an interest to develop bio-energy including Sinar Mas, Argo Lestari, Molindo and PT HM Sampurna besides state-owned agro-companies and cooperatives.
Among foreign investors interested in it are CITIC from China, Itochu from Japan, Greenenergy from India and companies from the US and Italy. Japanese oil company Nippon Oil Corporation has also expressed interest to develop a bio-diesel plant in Jambi.
Besides, the Indonesian Cooperatives Board (Dekopin) was planning to construct jatropha curcas processing plants. Dekopin Chairman Adi Sasono said Dekopin would build the processing factories in an effort to produce an energy source that can replace fossil fuel oils.
"We are considering the building of jatropha curcas oil factories for instance in Sukabumi, West Java, which is near Jakarta," Adi Sasono said.
To make its program a success, the government called on the public not to hesitate to cultivate biofuel crops. It gave the assurance that it would absorb biofuel production no matter how much.
"We have two major stand-by buyers, namely state-owned Pertamina for the transportation sector and state power firm PLN for the electricity sector," Research and Technology Minister Kusmayanto Kadiman said.
(T.A014/A/HAJM/B/O001) 19:00/ ) (T.A014/A/A014/A/H-AJM/O001) 29-07-2006 19:48:34
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