Climate conference disappoints Indonesia

Stevie Emilia, The Jakarta Post, New Delhi

Indonesia expressed on Thursday its disappointment with the way the UN-sponsored climate conference had proceeded as no significant agreement had been reached and there was only one day remaining.

The head of the Indonesian delegation, Liana Bratasida, said participating countries in the 10-day conference had not shown a "clear commitment" in dealing with climate change problems.

"Until now, there's a lack of consensus and commitment. We hope the Delhi Declaration will not turn into a mere political statement," Liana, the deputy state minister for environment preservation, told a high-level ministerial round table meeting on Thursday.

She said she found no significant progress in the ongoing negotiations since some issues remained unsettled and would have to be brought to the next climate conference in Rome in 2003. Industrialized countries, she added, also displayed a half- hearted intention to lower their greenhouse gas emissions.

This year's climate conference, scheduled to end on Friday, is the last before the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which binds industrialized countries in cutting down their greenhouse gas emissions, takes effect next year.

With the United States, named as the world's biggest polluter, refusing to ratify the protocol, much hope is pinned on Russia and Canada.

Although 96 countries have ratified the protocol, their emissions only represent 37.4 percent of the emissions of Annex I countries in 1990.

The executive in charge of foreign affairs of the Association of Indonesian Forestry Business (APHI), Robianto Koestomo, said he had expected that the conference would resolve some unfinished business, including those on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF).

"This is the most disappointing climate conference I have ever attended," said Robiyanto, who has gone to the last two climate conferences.

"We expected to reach an agreement on the implementation phase of LULUCF at this conference, but we now have to wait until the next conference in Rome," Robiyanto said.

He said APHI was preparing a project to rehabilitate about 5,000 hectares of neglected land in Palembang and Jambi, which was formerly used as a resettlement area for transmigrants.

The project, slated to start next year, will be assisted by the International Tropical Timber Association (ITTO), which will provide early financial and technical aid.

Two experts from Colombia and Switzerland will arrive sometime in November to help the government prepare the project proposal.