Indonesia signs Kyoto treaty on greenhouse gas emissions

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Makarim Wibisono, signed in New York on Monday the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention, better known as the Kyoto Protocol, making Indonesia its 45th signatory.

The signing of the Kyoto Protocol reflects Indonesia's commitment to implement what the convention aims to achieve, he said.

According to Makarim, Indonesia has taken a number of steps and drawn up a number of policies to reduce greenhouse emissions.

"These show the extent of Indonesia's commitment to reduce the greenhouse effect, one of the major problems affecting the environment," he said as quoted by Antara.

As an equatorial archipelago, Indonesia assumes a unique position in that, on the one hand, it serves as the "lungs" of the earth and on the other hand, it is very vulnerable to high tides, he said.

Recently, the envoy said, Indonesia has been hit by a series of environmental disasters linked to drought and forest fires.

"These disasters were closely linked to the El Nio phenomenon and climatic changes. Indonesia thus pays serious attention to the impact of such changes," he said.

However, due to its limited capacity and technology, Indonesia must cooperate with other countries to achieve the Kyoto Protocol's objectives, he said.

"It is necessary for Indonesia to establish cooperation in environmental technology and financial matters to ensure the achievement of the main goal of the convention, which is to maintain a stable concentration of the gases resulting from the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere," he noted.

Indonesia believes that climatic changes and global warming are challenges that mankind has to tackle and overcome.

It is thus important that every country on earth should be committed to efforts to control global warming by reducing the greenhouse effect or producing and consuming environmentally friendly products, he added.