House set to ratify Kyoto Protocol

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