Climate conference disappoints Indonesia

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.