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Deniers pose challenge to climate change campaign
Indonesia, as one of the biggest producers of carbon emissions, plays a crucial role in the global fight against climate change
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ndonesia, as one of the biggest producers of carbon emissions, plays a crucial role in the global fight against climate change. With its lush, green environments, the world’s largest archipelagic nation has the potential to absorb and store large amounts of greenhouse gases.
However, the mission to mainstream the issue faces a major challenge, as a recent survey revealed that one in five Indonesians do not believe that humans are the main driver of the climate crisis.
According to a report issued by global public opinion and data company YouGov, Indonesia has the highest percentage of climate change deniers among 23 countries in a study conducted from Feb. 28 to March 26.
Of 1,001 Indonesian adults surveyed, 18 percent said they do not believe human activity causes climate change. Moreover, 6 percent of them said human-driven global warming was a hoax and part of a conspiracy theory.
Saudi Arabia followed Indonesia with 16 percent of its people saying they do not believe that humans contribute to climate change.
The Muslim-majority countries are followed by the United States (13 percent), South Africa (11 percent) and Mexico (10 percent) and Egypt (10 percent).
The Guardian, which exclusively published the YouGov data, noted that “a clear majority of people around the world think climate change is happening and that it is all or partly down to human actions”.
Not all Indonesians, however, are turning a blind eye to the climate crisis. A quarter of survey participants from Indonesia said they believe humans should be blamed as the main driver for climate change, while 29 percent of Indonesians believe other factors also play a role.
Khalisah Khalid of environmental group Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) blamed the country’s education system, which tends to promote dogmatic thinking rather than critical thinking and awareness on various issues, including climate change.
“Our political elites and leaders don’t help much regarding this matter, as they prefer to talk about, among other issues, the economy and welfare as well as identity politics rather than environmental destruction, as seen during the recent election for example,” Khalisah told The Jakarta Post recently.
“While it is considered a technical and complicated issue, this has prevented climate change and other environmental issues from becoming main talking points in public discourse.”
Despite the high percentage of climate change deniers, the survey highlighted that most Indonesian respondents consider it important to buy locally made products instead of imported goods (87 percent), as well as ethical or ecofriendly products (92 percent).
In comparison, Italy, 48 percent of respondents of which said humans were mainly responsible for climate change, had fewer people saying it was important to buy local products (80 percent) and ethical or ecofriendly products (79 percent).
“Some people, even those who don’t believe in climate change, might think of consuming ecofriendly products as a new trend, because some businesses have been using the issue as an opportunity to market their products,” Khalisah said.
She added that the denial could hurt the country’s climate change mitigation campaign, which already faced an uphill battle given that the global goal is to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
During the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Summit in Paris, countries made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as laid out in nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
In 2016, Indonesia pledged to reduce its emissions by 29 percent, or by 41 percent with international support, by 2030.
Many parties have demanded that countries ramp up their efforts following a report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) last year.
It stated that “limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius would require rapid and far-reaching transitions” as the world needs to drop the production of greenhouse gases “by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, [and] reach ‘net zero’ around 2050”.
It is not all doom and gloom in Indonesia, as several communities have succeeded in taking steps to protect the environment from further destruction.
Architectural consultancy firm LabTanya has been working with members of several communities in South Jakarta and South Tangerang, Banten, to reduce their waste production to decrease the amount of waste sent to landfills. Some residents in the areas have reduced their daily waste production by up to 90 percent.
“They might be skeptical in the beginning, but once we show them the potential benefits that can be gained from saving the environment, they will eventually be willing to participate in such efforts,” LabTanya cofounder Wilma Chrysanti said.
