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EU begins Climate Diplomacy Week with films, expo, seminars
We care: European Union Ambassador to Indonesia Vincent Guérend (center) poses with movie makers and diplomats during the film screening event in Jakarta on Sunday
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e care: European Union Ambassador to Indonesia Vincent Guérend (center) poses with movie makers and diplomats during the film screening event in Jakarta on Sunday. (JP/Veeramalla Anjaiah)
The 28-member European Union (EU) began its Climate Diplomacy Week in Indonesia with a range of activities, including film screenings of three short films in Jakarta on Sunday, which are aimed at raising public awareness about climate change.
“EU member states through their embassies are organizing several events to mark Climate Diplomacy Week in Jakarta. We will have an exhibition on the environment, conflicts and cooperation, the Talanola Dialogue and a seminar on sustainable palm oil,” EU Ambassador Vincent Guérend told The Jakarta Post at the Italian Cultural Institute in Jakarta on Sunday.
As part of Climate Diplomacy Week, the Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute, in cooperation with the Delegation of the EU in Indonesia, organized a film screening on Sunday.
Three short movies — Semesta, Sayang Kalimantan and Haze: It’s complicated — about forest fires were screened at the Italian Cultural Institute.
Earlier, Polish Ambassador to Indonesia Beata Stoczynska opened the film screening.
“My country [Poland] will do everything to effectively implement the Paris Agreement, and thus make an important step for a future safe from the anxiety of climate change. We hope that Indonesia will join us in that effort,” Ambassador Stoczynska said in her address.
Poland will host the forthcoming Conference of the Parties of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) in December this year. It will be held in the Polish city of Katowice.
Among the three films, the 8-minute Sayang Kalimantan (Love Kalimantan) touched the hearts of the audience. The film, which was made by award winning Singaporean Wally Tham, documents the worst peatland fire of 2015 in Kalimantan. Tham is the executive producer and director of Big Red Button, an environmental organization based in Singapore.
Meanwhile, the film Haze: It’s Complicated focused on scientific facts about the restoration of peatland in Indonesia, the burning of peatland and its devastating impact on air quality and various views about haze both from victims as well as important stakeholders.
After the screening, there was a public discussion featuring Tham and other environmentalists.
When it comes to climate change, the EU is always on the frontline in raising public awareness and helps many developing countries like Indonesia on issues like renewable energy, waste management, water management, reforestation and environmental degradation.
The EU is strongly committed to ambitious actions such as reducing carbon emissions and extending support to countries like Indonesia. It is fully committed to mobilizing US$100 billion by 2020 for climate finance.
Hosting Climate Diplomacy Week is a good example and timely. It is a global EU initiative to build relationships with key local actors from governments, business and civil society, and to promote the global transition to a low emission, resilient and resource efficient economy.
It is being held just few months before the COP24. All the governments and stakeholders from around the world are currently assessing their actions since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, and to look at solutions and possibilities to enhance their actions under the Talanoa Dialogue, an international process that takes stock of collective and individual efforts toward the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The EU’s Climate Diplomacy Week Sept. 23 to 30
* Sept. 23: Movie screenings and a public discussion on forest fires and their impact at the Italian Cultural Institute Jakarta
* Sept. 24 to 30: Exhibition on the environment, conflicts and cooperation at the Goethe Institut Jakarta
* Sept. 25: The Talanoa Dialogue in Indonesia at the Institut Francais d’Indonesie Jakarta
* Sept. 26: Danish climate fair at Greenhouse Cowork Jakarta
* Sept. 27: Seminar on “Working Together Towards Sustainable Palm Oil” at Crowne Plaza Hotel Jakarta
* Sept. 28: Open Discussion on tobacco control and climate change at the Embassy of Hungary Jakarta.
