Forests reduce methane emission

BOGOR (JP): Forested land is good for absorbing methane, one of the greenhouse gases that can lead to global warming, a researcher from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture has found.

"It is estimated that up to 40 percent of methane emissions can sink through forested soils," forest climatologist D. Murdiyarso told journalists of his recent finding yesterday.

Methane is a colorless, odorless gas that occurs abundantly in nature as the chief constituent of natural gas. It is also a component of fire damp in coal mines and a product of the anaerobic bacterial decomposition of vegetable matter under water.

The gas is emitted into the atmosphere with the mining and storing of coal, the extraction of oil and natural gas, the incomplete combustion of certain fuels and leaking of natural gas.

So far forest conservation has been encouraged to help reduce carbon dioxide levels. Besides carbon dioxide, Murdiyarso noted that methane is considered another important factor in the increased warming near the earth's surface, referred to as the "greenhouse effect" when the earth's atmosphere blocks the sunrise.

The study is part of a country report on the inventories of gas emissions and their reduction that are being carried out by signatories to the Convention on Climate Change, including Indonesia.

The Convention was issued at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992.

"With this finding (of methane reduction) we have at least moved one step further," said Aca Sugandhy, assistant to the Minister of Environment in charge of policy making, who opened a two-day workshop on the inventory of emissions and the sinking of greenhouse gases here yesterday.

Murdiyarso conducted his study in the Kerinci Seblat forests of Jambi. He said he wants to continue the research for another year.

He has also completed another study on methane emission from wetland rice fields in Subang, West Java.

Wetland farming is considered one of the major human activities contributing to methane emission, and is thus a frequent indicator in global estimations.

Murdiyarso said methane emissions from wetland paddy fields throughout Indonesia range from 1.07 to 6.48 terragrams a year. One terragram is equal to a million tons.

"However I am optimistic that the average level is low, around 2 terragrams if emissions from rain-fed fields are combined," he said.

Sugandhy said studies of technologies to reduce emissions of methane have yet to be conducted.

Following the first conference of the Convention on Climate Change in Berlin, held in April, Indonesia has received offers of financial aid from a number of countries including the United States, Australia and Germany, to conduct a 'joint implementation' of the Convention.

Sugandhy said Indonesia has accepted the offers and will use the money for more research.

"However it has been agreed that such assistance will not bring a single credit point for these countries in their responsibility to reduce their large portion of carbon dioxide emission," Sugandhy said, referring to a major controversy in the Berlin conference.

The workshop also heard other reports on gas emission estimates in the sectors of agriculture, electricity and mining. (anr)