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strong>May 6, online

Environmental group Greenpeace International called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to strengthen legislation to protect all peatlands and forests in the country.

'€œPresident SBY'€™s legacy risks going up in smoke unless he strengthens legislation to protect all peatlands and forests,'€ said Bustar Maitar, head of the Indonesia Forest Campaign at Greenpeace International.

Greenpeace also called on the President to amend regulations on peatlands, which thus far had failed to set out a coherent approach to protect and manage all peatlands.

Bustar said that a comprehensive approach could be a critical defense against peatland fires and Indonesia'€™s greenhouse gas emissions.

Greenpeace International issued the statement in response to Yudhoyono'€™s keynote speech at the Forests Asia Summit.

Your comments:

Greenpeace should stop using toilet paper first before saving Indonesia from deforestation. So don'€™t blame others if you yourselves are not willing to change.

Neutralist

The fact remains that more than half of Indonesia'€™s rainforests, the third-largest swath in the world, has disappeared in just a few years and permission has been granted to convert up to 70 percent of what remains into oil palm or acacia plantations.

Sumatra'€™s forests are set to disappear completely in the near future.

Exbrit

Developed economies need to assist developing economies with these issues. It is not right, when the destruction of the environment gave the developed economies the benefits that they have today, to expect that developing economies should be perfect when it comes to the environment.

How about the developed economies that put their money there and pay for the protection of the environment in developing countries.

Environmental sustainability comes at a substantial upfront cost before the benefits can be realized.

Gavin

Helping developing economies is nonsense. It doesn'€™t cost anything to stop destroying the forests. It just means greedy people make less money.

Logic