T

he Environment and Forestry Ministry is conducting public campaigns about climate change and taking other measures in 16 cities in Indonesia in June and July following the Conference of Parties (COP 21) in Paris last year.

The cities where the campaigns are being carried out are Manokwari, Banda Aceh, Padang, Pekanbaru, Palembang, Pontianak, Samarinda, Palangkaraya, Palu, Jayapura, Jakarta, Serang, Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta and Surabaya.

The ministry’s expert on the economics of natural resources, Agus Justianto, said the campaigns were necessary to help the country achieve its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 to 2030.

“With input from the regions, Indonesia’s NDC document will be closer to implementation at the site level,” said Agus in a campaign meeting for government officials, academics and non-governmental activists at the Mercure Hotel, Padang, West Sumatra.

In Paris, countries participating in the UN climate conference agreed to cut emissions.

In the agreement, countries also committed to cooperate for greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation programs and financing starting in 2020.

Targets for emission cuts were made prior to the Paris conference as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC). Each country was allowed to set its own strategy to achieve the targets.

The ministry’s director general of climate change mitigation, Emma Rachmawati, said climate risk identification and mitigation plans were necessary.

“A number of regions are more susceptible to the impacts of climate change, such as flooding, drought, crop failure and seawater intrusion. The question is whether vulnerability assessments have been carried out in the regions that have mapped potential areas, as well as the possibility of mitigation,” she said.

She said the Health Ministry and the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry had just conducted a climate change impact assessment in West Sumatra.

Based on the study, climate change in the province has an impact on rainfall patterns, which has resulted in a rise in the incidents of dengue fever, while the study by the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry indicated climate change had the risk of raising sea levels.

Emma said what was most important now was to review spatial planning (RTRW) by using strategic environmental assessment instruments.

“RTRW, whether at the national, provincial, city or regency level, has a significant effect on mitigation and adaptation efforts and errors in setting the RTRW will have an impact on climate change and result in losses to the state,” she added.