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Rise of Indonesia’s young climate champions
Political leaders in Indonesia can be the nation’s president for a maximum 10 years by law. Climate leaders, however, have no term limits; there is no end to their work. #opinion
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Students take part in a 'youth strike to act on climate change' demonstration in Paris, France, March 15, 2019. (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)
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olitical leaders in Indonesia can be the nation’s president for a maximum 10 years by law. Climate leaders, however, have no term limits; there is no end to their work.
July 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of Climate Reality Indonesia (CRI), an independent, nonprofit branch of the Climate Reality Project, founded by global climate advocate and former United States vice president Al Gore. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has trained more than 20,000 climate reality leaders (CRLs) from 154 countries since 2006.
By last month, Gore had trained 315 Indonesian CRLs, which comprise officials, lawmakers, business people, academics, activists, religious leaders, students, homemakers and journalists. They are responsible for spreading the narrative and solutions of the climate crisis across their networks and to the public.
Indonesia’s first CRL was Amanda Katili-Niode. Amanda, who has a natural resources and environment doctorate from the University of Michigan, played a role in the United Nations annual climate change conference in December 2007 in Bali, and was special advisor to then-environment minister Rachmat Witoelar.
In April 2008, she trained with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership Corps in Montreal. In July 2009, she organized climate reality training for 55 Indonesians in Melbourne, where she launched Climate Reality Indonesia.
Indonesia is one of at least 10 countries that have a climate reality project at the national level, and one of only four Asian nations that have a regional office, alongside China, India and the Philippines.
In the beginning, CRI focused on climate presentations for households and communities, as well as schools and universities. It expanded by launching the annual Climate Change Forum and Expo in 2011. That same year, CRI started involving young people with its Youth for Climate Camp program.
