Nature Alert: Government Asked to be Serious in Handling Environmental Problems

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

Government Asked to be Serious in Handling Environmental Problems

Wednesday, 14 October, 2009 | 17:23 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The next five-year period of government is urged to be serious in handling environmental problems that have been increasing due to global climate change.

A member of the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA), Emil Salim, warned the government about potential disasters if Indonesia does not prioritize management over climate change phenomenon because of global warming.

He mentioned illegal logging as an evidence of government's inability to handle environmental problems. This has caused forest fires every year in many regions.

The largest release of carbon dioxide that contributes to global warming come from forests that are used widely. Moss land and tropical rain forest keep the carbon dioxide.

“If this is ignored, Indonesia will not be known anymore as a country with its maritime resources and tropical rain forests,” he said during the national seminar on the prospects of long-term national security at the office of National Development Planning State Ministry, Wednesday (14/10).

According to Department of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, 29 islands out of 17,508 islands in the country has been sunk due to the higher sea surface. It is estimated that more than 2,000 islands will be sunk as well by 2030.

“We lose the islands without having wars,” he said.

State Minister of National Development Planning, Paskah Suzetta, admitted that Indonesia’s geographic position was sensitive to climate change including sea surface, drought, flood, and even national security problems.

“Higher sea surface will make small islands disappear that actually own strategic values as they mark exclusive economic zone, continent lines, and the country's security belt,” he said.

AGOENG WIJAYA

http://www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasional/2009/10/14/brk,20091014-202609,uk.html

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.