SBY told to push G8 on climate

Adianto P. Simamora ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 07/07/2008 10:31 AM  |  Headlines

With climate change high on the agenda at the G8 summit in Japan this week, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should use the opportunity to push forward the Bali road map on climate change, experts say.

They suggested Yudhoyono urge leaders of the world's richest countries to fulfill their commitments to helping developing nations, including Indonesia, tackle the impacts of global climate change.

"The summit in Hokkaido is an acid test of Yudhoyono's leadership in the climate change forum. He must convince G8 leaders about the progress made by Indonesia on climate change issues, including the Bali road map," Armi Susandi from the Bandung Institute of Technology said.

"The president should also outline Indonesia's achievements following the Bali meeting last December and the country's plans to cut emissions from energy and deforestation. These are some of the major steps we've taken that world leaders should be aware of."

Indonesia, which is not bound by the emissions reduction target of the Kyoto Protocol, plans to reduce emissions in the energy sector by 17 percent.

Armi said with such milestones, Yudhoyono had the right to press developed nations on financial assistance or technology transfers to help Indonesia deal with global warming.

Leaders of G8 nations -- the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada -- will meet in Hokkaido on Monday. The countries are among the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, widely blamed for causing global warming.

President Yudhoyono will deliver a speech at the summit on Wednesday. Leaders from developing nations such as India, China, Mexico and South Africa have also been invited to the summit.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said Yudhoyono would present the new Indonesia-Japan carbon partnership at the summit.

Indonesia and Japan recently launched the world's first new carbon partnership, aimed at cutting emissions from deforestation.

Armi called on Yudhoyono to urge G8 leaders to expedite discussions on the reduction emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), which was adopted at the Bali meeting.

An amendment to the Bali road map called for the Kyoto Protocol's emissions reduction target, which expires in 2012, to be renewed at the 2009 Copenhagen meeting.

However, a series of formal and informal meetings following the Bali conference failed to reach a consensus on the emissions target in the short and medium terms. They instead focused on long-term emissions reductions for 2050.

Many observers are looking for the G8 summit to spark wider international talks on global warming.

The U.S., which agreed to take the lead in emissions reductions in the Bali conference, insists emerging economic powers such as China and India should be bound by the emissions reduction target. Both China and India have opposed the idea.

Noted environmental law expert Mas Achmad Santosa said it was unlikely the current state of impasse over reductions would be resolved at the G8 summit.

"The President must push G8 leaders to stick to the Bali road map. But I am still pessimist the U.S. or China and India will change their position at the summit," he said.

Climate change expert Daniel Murdiyarso of Bogor Institute of Agriculture expressed similar doubts.

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