2 July 2009 Jakarta - Greenpeace this morning urged incumbent President Yudhoyono to draw up an urgent action plan to protect Indonesia’s last remaining forests, by staging a parody of President Yudhoyono’s speech recently where he called upon Indonesian people to remember their natural heritage. In the Greenpeace parody, the actor admits that his policies for forest protection have been woefully inadequate and that he must do more for forest and climate protection.
For the past months Greenpeace has been challenging the campaign teams of the three candidates to take action and decisive policy steps to address climate change and deforestation. Greenpeace has visited TV studios and election campaign rallies to stage election candidate debates with it’s own parody versions of the Presidential teams, to encourage the real candidates to get serious about climate change and deforestation.
“So far we have only heard nice words and empty promises, but still no action plan on stopping deforestation, which is key to the very survival of Indonesia’s economy and people, and central to global efforts to combat climate change”, said Joko Arif, Greenpeace Southeast Asia forest campaigner. “We urge Indonesians everywhere to remember what each candidate has said about forest protection when they vote in the July 8th election. Vote for Forests, Vote for our Future!”
During the Presidential election campaigns over the past month, Jusuf Kalla has asked for Greenpeace’s help to attract developed country funding for protecting forests, which he admits are almost gone. Megawati Soekarnoputri has talked about a moratorium on deforestation. However, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono remained quiet until yesterday, when his campaign team took out a full-page colour advertisement in Media Indonesia to defend his position on forest protection.
Successive Indonesian Governments have allowed most of the country’s forests to be destroyed for paper, timber products, chocolate bars, cosmetics and toiletries, cooking oil and ‘so called’ biodiesel. If the forest loss continues, the new government will not only be guilty of crimes against the environment and depriving millions of forest-dependent people of their homes and livelihoods, they will also be guilty of climate crimes, the impacts of which will extend far beyond Indonesia’s national boundaries.
Global efforts to contain the impacts of climate change culminate this year at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December where forest protection for climate stability will be discussed. Developed countries are expected to front billions of dollars for the protection of forests and a substantial portion could come to Indonesia. Greenpeace urges Indonesia to show its commitment in order to receive this money. This means declaring and implementing a moratorium on any further deforestation to give the time and space necessary to put in place the systems required to ensure forest protection money goes to where it is most needed.
“The Presidential election on July 8th presents both an opportunity and a threat. The opportunity for the successful candidate to help Indonesia and it’s people reap the benefits of funding for forest protection and clean energy, and the threat that millions more Indonesians will suffer the impacts of further forest destruction and worsening climate change if business as usual continues”, concluded Arif.(Marwan)
Remember Our Forests, Greenpeace tells Presidential hopefuls
on Friday, 3 July 2009Unesco Indonesia optimistic about WOC result
on Tuesday, 12 May 2009Manado (ANTARA News) - Indonesian National Commission for UNESCO chairman Arief Rachman has expressed optimism that the ongoing World Ocean Conference (WOC) would yield a joint agreement on global marine issue.
"WOC is just the beginning and thus we have to be optimistic about its outcome," Arief Rachman said the opening of WOC Senior Official Meeting (SOM) at Grand Kawanua Hall here on Monday.
Through the World Ocean Conference, he said a joint agreement was expected to be yielded to mitigate negative impact of climate change on the seas around the world.
"The impact of climate change can be reduced by controlling the quality of our seas," Arief Rachman said, adding that UNESCO through Intergovernmental Oceanography Commission (IOC) took part in the WOC to make sure that there would be a good coordination on the world`s marine issue.
He said IOC had a role among others to protect the quality of the seas in Indonesia, to exploit wisely the world`s marine resources, and to see if the law of the sea at local, national, and international levels was relevant to environmental preservation.
"IOC also tries to include a number of undersea nature preserve such as Bunaken in North Sulawesi and Raja Ampat in Papua in Natural World Heritage," Arief Rachman said.
He said that through the WOC, the younger generation would be motivated to occupy themselves with marine issues and the government should support them to make marine researches.
"The seas have no boundary and therefore they need joint global coordination," he said.
Meanwhile, Indonesian environmentalists Emil Salim and Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said on the occasion that through the ongoing WOC, the marine issue should be included in the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) agenda in Copenhagen in December, 2009.
"Through the World Ocean Conference (WOC), we hope the marine issue can be included the IPCC meeting in Copenhagen in December this year," former Environment Minister Emil Salim said.
He admitted that the marine issue so far has gained less attention in the international meetings on climate change and bio-diversity.
He said that although the sea had a great potential to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) the issue on it was frequently ignored in the international meetings on bio-diversity and climate change.
Besides Emil Salim, other environmentalist Sarwono Kusumaatmadja and Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi at the World Ocean Conference expressed hope that the marine issue could as well be included in the IPCC agenda.
According to them, the sea has important role in climate stability and therefore researches on it were frequently conducted but the issue was less discussed than forest role at international meetings on environmental safety.
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Manado (ANTARA News) - The marine issue should be included in the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) agenda in Copenhagen in December, 2009, environmentalists said.
"Through the World Ocean Conference (WOC), we hope the marine issue can be included the IPCC meeting in Copenhagen in December this year," former Environment Minister Emil Salim said at the side line of WOC Senior Official Meeting (SOM) at Grand Kawanua Hotel here on Monday.
Emil Salim admitted that the marine issue so far has gained less attention in the international meetings on climate change and bio-diversity.
He said that although the sea had a great potential to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) the issue on it was frequently ignored in the international meetings on bio-diversity and climate change.
Meanwhile, another Indonesian environmentalist Sarwono Kusumaatmadja and Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi at the World Ocean Conference expressed hope that the marine issue could as well be included in the IPCC agenda.
According to them, the sea has important role in climate stability and therefore researches on it were frequently conducted but the issue was less discussed than forest role at international meetings on environmental safety.
"At WOC, a comprehensive policy on marine issue will be made and include it in the agenda of IPCC conference on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009, and international agreement after Kyoto Protocol in 2012," Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said after the opening of WOC Senior Official Meeting.
He said there should be an effort in mainstreaming the marine issue in a global scenario about climate stability.
"There should a certain party to voice the marine issue globally, and it is fitting Indonesia can do so because it is the largest archipelagic country in the world," Kusumaatmadja said.
Meanwhile, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi in his opening address of WOC Senior Official Meeting said there should be global commitment, especially from the WOC participating countries, to pay their close attention to marine issue.
Numberi said a joint effort was expected to be made in the WOC to fight against the impact of climate change on seas around the world in connection with the rising of sea level as the result of melting ice at the Pole.
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Manado, North Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - The Manado Ocean Declaration (MOD) expected to be issued at the end of the World Ocean Conference (WOC) is a political commitment among nations to promote oceans in international conventions, an expert said.
"It`s a political commitment among nations that oceans must be included in international conventions on climate change," Emil Salim, a former Indonesian environmental affairs minister, said on the sidelines of the WOC Senior Official Meeting (SOM) here on Monday.
Following the political commitment to be reached in the WOC, ocean and sea protection would be emphasized through cooperation in the world`s Coral Triangle, he said.
More specific science and technology in the Coral Triangle area were being developed by world oceanographers attending a symposium on on International Ocean Science, Technology and Industry, being held on the sidelines of the WOC, in Manado, he said.
There have been three international conventions on climate change, but they just discussed issues on land and soils but nothing on oceans and seas, he said.
Oceans had been less discussed discussed their potential roles as a crabon sink, a food source and an energy source, he said.
The WOC and Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Summit is being held in Manado, May 11-15, and attended by representatives from tens of countries.
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COPYRIGHT © 2009
MANADO INDONESIA, Greencare- Thousands of delegates from around the world have gathered in Manado, Indonesia, for a major conference on coastal and marine resources management that will culminate in the first Leaders Summit of the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI). The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will participate in and provide support to both events.
Hosted by the Government of Indonesia, the World Ocean Conference (WOC) brings together ministers and senior officials from governments and multilateral organizations representing more than 120 countries. Heads of state from the six Southeast Asian and Pacific countries that make up the CTI -- Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste -- will attend the Leaders Summit on May 15.
The Coral Triangle region boasts the world's highest density of marine life, which is vital to the livelihoods and food security of more than 100 million residents.
The WOC will provide an opportunity to focus global attention on measures needed to protect the health of marine ecosystems and to better appreciate the important roles they play in regulating global warming and responses to climate change.
ADB will serve as lead agency in mobilizing domestic and international financial resources for this regional cooperation program and also providing its own technical and financial support. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is providing core grant financing for the program.
As part of the WOC program, ADB is hosting a workshop to kick off a new regional project in the Pacific under the CTI and a symposium showcasing ADB's experience in managing the region's coastal and marine resources. ADB staff will also take part in a panel of international experts addressing new approaches to financing developing country responses to the challenge of climate change. ADB Vice-President Lawrence Greenwood will participate in the Summit and will also co-chair, with Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi, a CTI Partnership Dialogue, which will bring together ministers and senior officials from the six countries and various organizations supporting the CTI.
"Both the World Ocean Conference and the Coral Triangle Initiative are helping the region to collectively address critical threats to marine and coastal resources posed by climate change, unsustainable fishing methods and land-based pollution," says Mr. Greenwood. "ADB strongly supports these efforts."
At the CTI Leaders Summit, the six heads of state are expected to adopt a regional "plan of action" that will serve as a blueprint for their cooperation on sustainable management of coastal and marine resources.
Other founding CTI partners involved in the events include the GEF, the Governments of Australia and the US, and three international NGOs – Conservation International (CI), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
Mobilization of resources to support the CTI is still ongoing, but it has so far generated commitments or pledges of around US$350 million. The GEF has committed up to $63 million in grants coordinated through ADB, and the US Government a further $40 million. ADB and other development partners are expected to contribute new funding close to $300 million.
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in the Asia and Pacific region through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region. In 2008, it approved $10.5 billion of loans, $811.4 million of grant projects, and technical assistance amounting to $274.5 million. (Marwan)
Highlights of draft bill to curb global warming
on Friday, 3 April 2009CAP-AND-TRADE PROGRAM
- Establishes a cap-and-trade program for electric utilities, oil companies and large industrial sources that release more than 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year.
- Sets increasingly tighter limits on greenhouse gas emissions from electric utilities, oil companies and large industrial sources. They would have to reduce global warming gases by 3 percent below 2005 levels in 2012, 20 percent in 2020, 42 percent in 2030 and 83 percent by 2050.
- Allows companies covered by plan to buy and sell allowances and to invest in projects that reduce pollution elsewhere to meet mandates.
RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY STANDARD
- Requires retail electricity suppliers to produce a percentage of their energy from renewable sources like wind, solar, biomass and geothermal.
- Sets targets of 6 percent in 2012, rising to 25 percent by 2025.
COAL MEASURES
- Promotes development of technologies to capture and store carbon dioxide from coal-fired plants.
- Limits the amount of carbon dioxide that new coal-fired power plants can release to 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour, beginning in 2015.
OTHER MEASURES
- Prohibits EPA from regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases under other provisions of the Clean Air Act.
- Establishes an energy efficiency resource standard requiring electricity distribution companies to encourage customers to use less electricity and natural gas.
- Directs EPA to set emissions standards for locomotives, marine vessels and non-road sources such as leaf blowers, chain saws and tractors.
EI commits to regular micro-blogging and social networking upon Twitter and Facebook, to promote ecologically sufficient policies adequate to achieve global ecological sustainability
Greencare-- Ecological Internet (EI) has committed to furthering its leadership in use of the Internet to facilitate environmental conservation by establishing major new Facebook and Twitter presences[1]. While Ecological Internet's President, Dr. Glen Barry, is widely credited with inventing blogging[2] in 1993, a subject of his Ph.D. dissertation; until now EI has not embraced the large, commercial social networking sites. Supporters are asked to follow and recommend these efforts.
"Facebook's improvement upon public profiles made the time ripe to commit to these technologies to further biocentric thought and an ecologically sufficient policy agenda. The use of RSS/XML technologies has matured to the point where we can micro-blog in one place and have it replicate to all our sites and profiles. And Ecological Internet has long offered our own major RSS/XML newsfeeds of ecological media, alerts, and commentary which others are encouraged to share[3]," said Dr. Glen Barry.
Ecological Internet, Inc. specializes in the use of the Internet to achieve ecological science-based environmental conservation outcomes[4]. Ecological Internet's mission is to empower the global movement for environmental sustainability by providing information retrieval tools, portal services, expert analysis and action opportunities that aid in the protection of climate, forest, ocean and water ecosystems; and to commence the age of ecological sustainability and restoration.
"We very much hope that many of our 60,000 person global network will choose to become Fans of our Facebook site, and to follow our Twitter feed, while encouraging others to do likewise. As we spend hours each day gathering news and knowledge, we will be sharing insights, observations and protest opportunities based on the latest happenings in ecological science with our supporters. Please link EI's inspiring, biocentric perspective into your social networks at the URLs below." (ecoearth/wan)
