House set to ratify Kyoto Protocol

JAKARTA: After hearing from various sources, the House of Representatives and the government will begin discussing on Thursday a plan to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

Effendi Choirie, deputy chairman of House Commission I for foreign affairs, said on Wednesday State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim would represent the government during the deliberations.

The legislators, Choirie said, had sought opinions from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment and the association of mining firms on the protocol.

The protocol, endorsed in 1997, mandates all signatories to reduce emissions of harmful gases.

Choirie said environmental activists had urged legislators to consider the interests of farmers and fishermen, who have been badly affected by the greenhouse effect. -- JP