Determined to lead the discussion on climate change among developing nations,
the Indonesian government spent much of the past week recruiting countries to
join it in pressing richer nations to provide incentives to reduce carbon
emissions.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made a direct plea on Wednesday at the start
of a two-day gathering of 40 environment ministers near this capital, a
precursor to the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Bali in
December.
The environment minister of Indonesia, Rachmat Witoelar, said earlier this month
that he wanted rich countries to pay up to $20 a hectare, or 2.47 acres, to
preserve its dwindling forests.
At the meeting this week, Indonesia began mobilizing countries like Brazil,
Mexico, Congo, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, which with
Indonesia contain most of the world’s rain forests.
Indonesia has been spearheading the discussion on climate change among
developing nations since it offered the venue for the December conference, which
aims to solidify a new global climate deal before the 1997 Kyoto Protocol
expires in 2012. Many world leaders are expected to join the tens of thousands
attending the conference in Bali.
“We can’t do this alone,” said Indonesia’s deputy environment minister,
Masnellyarti Hilman. “Developed countries need to help us because they have the
money, the financing and the technology. We need their help if we are going
reduce emissions and not sacrifice our future development.”
But in its efforts to lead the debate, Indonesia has also opened up its own
environmental record to scrutiny. A World Bank report released this year cited
Indonesia as one of the top three emitters of greenhouse gases, mostly because
of rampant cutting of its forests, persistent wildfires and cultivation of its
carbon-rich peat bogs. Industrialization and mining are also major contributors
to carbon emissions.
The Indonesian government did not address how it would check illegal logging.
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