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s the UN climate conference in Durban, South Africa, commences with a somber outlook on a possible global pact to reduce emissions, Indonesia plans to secure its own interests in climate funding.

“The global pact is difficult to realize, so we will focus on Indonesia’s interests in the conference,” Rachmat Witoelar, the chairman of the National council on Climate Change (DNPI) told reporters after meeting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Presidential Palace Jakarta on Thursday.

Rachmat, who will lead the negotiating team in Durban, said that the government would focus on accelerating the disbursement of green climate funds and other forms of funding for climate adaptation and technology transfers.

The commitment of the climate funds were reached last year’s conference in Cancun while the adaptation funds and technology transfer were part of the 2007 conference in Bali.

The 17th UN Climate Conference began in Durban with a somber mood, as developed countries have resisted negotiating on three main agendas.

Led by the opaque stance of the US to submit to the emissions reduction scheme in the Kyoto Protocol, other developed countries such as Japan, Russia and Canada have taken conservative stances toward the future of the treaty.

Since the UN Framework for Climate Change Conference was enacted in 1995, participating countries have been meeting annually to assess progress in dealing with climate change.

In 1997, the conference adopted the Kyoto treaty, which set binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These amount to an average of 5 percent against 1990 levels over the five-year period from 2008–2012.

Rachmat said that Indonesia would try to meet its goals while encouraging developed countries to extend the treaty.

He also said several developed countries such as the US had rejected the treaty since China was not included among the developed countries and should obey the protocol.

“Those countries have forgotten that China was not involved in the Kyoto Protocol as a developed country,” he said.

Recognizing that developed countries were principally responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity, the 2007 Bali conference placed a heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”.

The principle said that developed countries should commit to higher rates of emissions reduction than the developing nations.

Fitrian Ardiyansyah, the climate and sustainability specialist said that although it seems no way out to attain agreement on the Kyoto protocol, Indonesia should negotiate for several things.

“The conference should gain a decision or strong indications for a second period commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. Otherwise, it will be difficult to reduce emissions,” Fitrian said.

According to him, the conference should also legalize the Commission of Adaptation, which will be important not only to Indonesia, which is vulnerable to climate change and made up of islands, but also for other similar countries in the world.