New center to supply govt with credible data

Indonesia plans to set up a climate change research center to provide detailed and credible scientific data for policy makers.

The Indonesia Center on Climate Change, which is expected to begin operating this year, will carry out research on forests, peatlands, oceans, renewable energy and adaptation.

“The center will work to improve our understanding of climate change and address its adverse effects by linking science to policies,” Eka Melisa, a senior member of the climate center team, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

“All policies related to climate change would then be based on credible scientific data.”

Eka, the deputy head of the international negotiations working group at the National Council on Climate Change, said the center would involve scientists and policy making experts.

The US has promised to contribute US$7 million in grants for the center.

Delegations from Indonesia and the US are to meet in Washington this month to hammer out a plan to realize a signed US-RI comprehensive partnership, which covers the center.

Eka, who is also an Indonesian delegate under the partnership, said the climate center “will support and strengthen all areas [under the partnership]”, she said.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) established a new climate center and air quality measuring facility last year as mandated by the 2009 Law on the BMKG.

The BMKG’s climate center is currently focusing on measuring greenhouse gas emission levels, mainly those of carbon dioxide and methane, which are thought to be the main contributors to global warming.

A numbers of countries have pledged to provide large grants for the BMKG’s climate center.

Head of the BMKG climate center Edvin Aldrian said the initiative planned to build at least five monitoring stations next year that would be plugged into the US’s global atmosphere watch program.

The government has issued a number of strategic policies related to climate change, including a promise to cut 26 percent of emissions by 2020.

Experts have argued that this figure was not based on credible scientific research.

Scientist Mezak A. Ratag hailed the plan to build the climate change research center, saying that a lot of existing data on climate change used in policy making was not supported by scientific research.

“However, [data from] the center would not generalize [such as by saying] that causes or impacts of climate change in all provinces are the same,” he said.

Rataq, a former research and development head at the BMKG, said each province was affected differently by climate change.