SBY prepares climate change team

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made plans to set up a special team on climate change to address the impacts of global warming and help the nation adapt to frequent weather anomalies.

"The idea to set up special team on climate change came after the Bali conference. It is now being considered in intensive discussions," head of adaptation unit at the state Environment Ministry, Haneda Sri Mulyanto told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Haneda said no details were available on the team as yet, but that the team was expected to include government officials and experts, with the President as chairman.

Indonesia hosted the planet's biggest conference on climate change in Bali in December, bringing together representatives from 189 countries as signatories of the Kyoto Protocol.

The conference called on all nations to take action in addressing climate change and to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming.

The state Environment Ministry is currently the vocal point for climate change issues in the Indonesia.

The ministry set up a national commission on climate change in 2003 but many said it was not effective because of its lack of coordination with others ministries.

An activist working with the climate change issues, Fitrian Ardiansyah of WWF Indonesia, hailed the President's plan.

"We expect the new team will promote climate change as a mainstream issue for national development," he said.

He said the government needed to learn from experiences of other countries, how to tackle climate change issues.

"The government could study Australia which has appointed a special minister to deal with climate change, or China which has a special team under the president," he said.

Australia ratified the Kyoto Protocol in December and appointed Penny Wong as the first Minister for Climate Change and Water on Dec. 3.

Fitrian said he hoped the team would be able to issue policy directives to be applied by all sectors, including local governments.

"The government must set aside a special budget for climate change for each sector, to ensure the policies issued by the President's team get implemented," he said.

The government has declared Indonesia is very vulnerable to rising sea levels and rising temperatures.

It said Indonesia had seen sea levels rise some 0.8 centimeters a year, which threatened the livelihood of coastal communities.

Data from the government shows 60 percent of the Indonesian population live in coastal areas, of which 48 million live in poverty.

The ministry predicted a sea level rise of 1 meter would inundate some 405,000 hectares of coastal areas and some 2,000 small islands across the Indonesian archipelago.

The UN climate panel said sea levels could rise by up to 59 cm by 2100 as a result of global warming.