NGOs call for 60 percent reduction in CO2 emissions

NGOs call for 60 percent reduction in CO2 emissions

JAKARTA (JP): Local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) called on the government yesterday to commit itself to a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions of at least 60 percent by the year 2030.

"As an archipelagic country, Indonesia will be significantly affected by global climate changes... Therefore it must play a more proactive role in dealing with the issue," said Muhammad Anung from the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) in a press conference.

Walhi, together with six other local NGOs, belongs to the Indonesian core group of the Climate Action Network Southeast Asia (CANSEA), based in Manila. The other local groups involved are Pelangi Indonesia, the Geni Nastiti Foundation, the Gugus Analisis Foundation, Perintis, the Indonesian Consumers Protection Agency and the Indonesian Foundation for the Advancement of Biological Sciences.

Future climate changes are predicted to affect the lives of some 1.2 million people in Indonesia, especially those living on the coastline, whose land will decrease as the sea level rises.

Anung said CANSEA's Indonesia core group had proposed that the government adopt the "1988 Toronto Target", which aims at reducing carbon dioxide by 20 percent of its 1988 level by the year 2005, and by a further 50 percent by 2030.

The group also insists that a carbon tax should be levied on industrialized countries and says there should be cooperation between developed and developing countries in seeking renewable energy sources. It also called on the government to prohibit the relocation of industries producing high levels of carbon monoxide to Indonesia.

The proposal will be given to the Indonesian delegation to the first official Conference of Parties, to be held from March 28 to April 7 in Berlin, which will be attended by signatories of the global Convention on Climate Change.

The conference is expected to make concrete decisions on a global action plan calling for a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

Anung explained that developing countries could actually afford to increase their carbon dioxide emission by about 30 percent since it had not reached the critical level that many industrialized countries had already reached.

Efficiency

He said that for developing countries, it was more important to improve the efficiency of industries and other carbon- producing sources so that emissions did not exceed the critical level.

Hadi Pramono from the Indonesian Foundation for the Advancement of Biological Sciences pointed out that industrial countries, which are in fact the world's main carbon dioxide producers, have an equally great responsibility to reduce their carbon emissions.

He said that joint implementation programs, such as the funding of reforestation programs in developing countries, were not enough to pay for the damage caused by the developed countries' carbon emissions.

"They think they can produce as much carbon as they like just because they have helped to fund reforestation programs...This is not the case. We must somehow teach them to reduce their carbon emission... Changing their lifestyle is the key," Hadi said.

Although European countries have started showing their goodwill in this, "it seems that Americans find it very hard to change their luxurious lifestyles. This is very disadvantageous since they are the major carbon dioxide emitters," he said.

The United States has not ratified the convention on climate change.

"In the end, industrial nations should reduce their carbon emission levels on one hand and we must increase the efficiency of our industries on the other, so that the carbon emissions caused by development in our economy does not exceed the critical level," he said.(pwn)