Indonesia urges U.S. to join climate change pact
Indonesia urges U.S. to join climate change pact
David Fogarty, Reuters/Montreal, Canada
Indonesia urged the United States to back the Kyoto Protocol
climate change pact on Wednesday, saying the threat from climate
change for the world's fourth most populous nation was very real.
Resource-rich Indonesia, with 220 million people, is a vast
archipelago that is heavily reliant on agriculture. But Asia's
only OPEC member also depends on fossil fuels to generate
electricity and its major cities are heavily polluted.
State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said
rainfall patterns were already changing in Indonesia and the
country was at risk from rising sea levels.
"Indonesia wants to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. It is
our conviction that the whole world is being damaged," he told
Reuters on the sidelines of a UN climate change conference in the
Canadian city of Montreal.
"We back Kyoto and back the future of the pact. We will not
let Kyoto be hindered by any other concepts," he said.
The European Union and host Canada also piled pressure on the
United States on Wednesday to join the Kyoto pact.
The United States has pulled out of Kyoto, saying emission
curbs enshrined in the treaty were bad for its economy, and has
instead backed voluntary targets and clean technology as the way
to tackle climate change.
"It's a worry," Rachmat said of American objections.
"I think they should come to a decision to join the mainstream
of the world in terms of mitigating the damage from greenhouse
gases."
In Montreal, the U.S. delegation has also dismissed a Canadian
proposal for talks looking at ways to involve all countries in
tackling climate change.
Rachmat said the threat from climate change was very real.
"We are one of the countries most vulnerable because we are
archipelagic and because we are a nation emerging and we are
trying to build up our economy."
He said Indonesia wanted to clean up its economy but needed
help.
"Indonesia wants to develop within the context of
environmentally friendly energy. That is why we are developing
alternative energy," he said. The government, for example, is
looking to expand electricity output from geothermal plants.
But he said the government could not afford this on its own.
"That is why we are entering into MOUs with Canada, Austria
and Denmark," he said, referring to memorandums of understanding
under which rich nations give Indonesia money to invest in return
for lowering its carbon emissions.
The process is under the Clean Development Mechanism, part of
the Kyoto Protocol, that aims to allow industrialized nations to
claim carbon credits from projects in poor countries.
He said Indonesia was looking at raising taxes to curb car
ownership and cut pollution in its biggest cities.
The government was also looking at lowering emissions from
power stations as well as cement and palm oil factories.
"Time is pressing. It's not running out. We are optimistic of
the future but we need to do more. We need more speed," he said.