Headline News October 04, 2007
Adianto P Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government is embarking on a massive tree-planting campaign ahead of what will be the largest-ever global climate change conference in Bali in December.
Indonesia's reforestation efforts have a national and international component.
"The Bali conference is about strategic momentum for us and showing the international community that Indonesia is willing to revive its forests," Soetino Wibowo, a senior adviser to the Forestry Ministry, told reporters Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar will be appointed president of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for a one-year term at the December meeting.
The ambitious reforestation program, which aims to reduce the impact of global warming, will see trees planted throughout all of the country's 33 provinces within a two-month period.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will officially inaugurate the campaign, planting 1,000 trees in Cibadak village, Bogor, on Nov. 28. The program is scheduled to begin in mid October and continue through the end of November.
To meet program targets and ensure coordinated efforts, Forestry Minister M.S. Ka'ban has already contacted governors, regents and mayors throughout the country.
"We will utilize public lands such as schools, places of worship, housing complexes and offices," Soetino said.
"We will display photos of the tree-planting activities during the UNFCCC conference."
He said the tree seedlings would be supplied by forestry offices, state-owned forestry companies Perhutani and Inhutani, and non-governmental organizations.
UNFCCC is currently the highest decision-making authority on global climate change issues.
The 191 countries that are signatories to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change will be represented at the two-week conference from Dec. 3 to 14.
Forest issues are expected to be among key topics discussed during the meeting.
Indonesia currently has 120 million hectares of forests -- more than any other country except Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Wahjudi Wardojo, director general of forestry research and development at the Forestry Ministry, said 11 tropical forest countries had agreed to stop the loss of forest cover and take other measures to deal with climate change.
The agreement was made at a meeting led by President Yudhoyono in New York on Sept. 24.
The 11 countries are Indonesia, Brazil, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Columbia, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Peru.
"We are committed to cooperating among our nations to slow, stop and reverse the loss of forest cover and to promote the rehabilitation of degraded forest lands, forest management and conservation," a joint statement released by the forested countries said.
It calls for transfer of technology and for richer nations to help build the capacity of poorer ones, some of which -- like Indonesia -- have vast forest areas.
Wahjudi, who attended the meeting in New York, said the Bali conference was expected to discuss the financial ramifications of the multilateral forest conservation scheme.
He referred to formation of a coalition enabling a "bargaining position to push rich nations to fund reforestation efforts".
Minister Rachmat earlier predicted that Indonesia could reap US$10 per hectare of conserved forests.
Planting trees keeps carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere.
Adviser on partnership issues to the Forestry Ministry, Sunaryo, said one tree could prevent between 50 and 150 tons of CO2 from being released.
On the other hand, experts warn that the loss of Indonesia's forests, including due to slash-and-burn agricultural methods, will increase CO2 emissions and speed up global warming.
Due to rapid deforestation, environmental NGO Wetland International has said Indonesia is the world's third largest greenhouse gas-emitting country, after the United States and China.
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