Indonesia signs Kyoto treaty on greenhouse gas emissions
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.