Sarwono warns of global warming threat

Sarwono warns of global warming threat

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja
expressed his concern yesterday over the growing threat of global
warming and the ensuing climatic change.

Speaking after opening the Regional Workshop on Activities
Implemented Jointly and Measures to Reduce Emissions of
Greenhouse Gases at the Hotel Indonesia, Sarwono called for a
concerted effort to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases which
cause global warming.

"According to a 1992 estimate, we'll have to move 110 million
Indonesians to higher ground if the sea level continues to rise
as the result of global warming and climatic change," he was
quoted by Antara as saying.

"We need to reduce gas emissions and preserve natural
resources," he said.

The greenhouse gases include CO2, CH4, and NO, which are
emitted after the use of fossil-based fuels and rise into the
atmosphere. When the amount of the gases increases, the earth's
temperature increases as well.

Rising global temperatures will melt icebergs at the north and
south poles and consequently cause the sea level to rise.

Sarwono pointed out that many Indonesians living in coastal
areas would suffer from the rising sea level. "Paddy fields and
plains will be swamped, not to mention a couple of islands which
would sink as well," he said. "To cap it off, Indonesia will also
experience cyclones and tornadoes that rarely occur in this
country."

The workshop was initiated by the Office of the United States
Initiative on Joint Implementation (USIJI), the Indonesian
Ministry of Environment, The Environmental Agency of Japan and
the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia. It is
one in a series of workshops co-sponsored by USIJI as part of
President Clinton's Climate Change Action Plan. The event is
scheduled to last until tomorrow.

"I hope that Indonesia could learn from the attending experts
here about how to develop technology to reduce the gas
emissions," said Sarwono.

He also mentioned that Indonesia established the National
Committee on Climate Change in 1989. The committee has completed
the greenhouse gases emission inventory under the assistance of
the US Country Studies Program. The results, he said, "would soon
be printed".

Indonesia signed the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) along with more than 150 other nations at
the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio Janeiro. The workshop itself has
gained acknowledgement from the UNFCCC.

The opening of the workshop was also attended by the United
States Ambassador to Indonesia Stapleton Roy. Roy told the
audience that President Clinton had already stated that the US
must take the lead in addressing the challenge of global warming
that could make our planet become more hostile to human life.

"But clearly, climatic change is a global threat. The climate
can only be protected by cooperation between all nations," Roy
said. (06)