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Indonesia gives account on peatland protection
Deforestation and land-use change account for 47.7 percent of Indonesia’s greenhouse gas emissions, WRI Indonesia noted in a May 2017 report.
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The El-Niño effect: Officers spray water on forest fires in a concession area in Tulung Selapan, Ogan Komering Ilir, South Sumatra, on Oct. 28, 2016. (JP/Jerry Adiguna )
E
very time Indonesia goes to the annual United Nations climate change conference, the country comes under cross-examination. Indonesia has to account for what it has done to end the forest and peatland fires causing choking smoke and hazardous haze.
The burning wood also emits huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the earth’s atmosphere and amplifies global warming. Deforestation and land-use change account for 47.7 percent of Indonesia’s greenhouse gas emissions, WRI Indonesia noted in a May 2017 report.
In early 2014 and late 2015, tropical forests and peatland areas in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua were badly burned. The fire disaster emitted 1.62 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to a University of Maryland study released on Oct. 23. Eastward winds from Sumatra carried haze to neighboring Malaysia and Singapore. At the 2015 climate conference in Paris, Singapore rightly reproached Indonesia for the toxic haze that prompted the island city’s residents to wear face masks. Fortunately, no fire-caused calamity occurred in Sumatra in 2016 and 2017, thanks to an enhanced cross-sectoral alert mechanism, a normal dry season and rain that helped douse hotspots.
This year’s conference, dubbed COP23 for the 23rd conference of the parties, takes place in Bonn, Germany, from Nov. 6 to Nov. 17.
