Activists Oppose Reforestation Fund: Denpasar, Bali

By Barrie | October 23rd, 2007 | No Comments

Tens of environmental activists staged a peaceful rally here on Tuesday to protest against the Indonesian government`s plan to seek more money from developed nations to reforest its lost tropical woodland. The demonstrators, most of them members of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) earlier marched from the road in front of Udayana University campus to Jl Dewi Sartika intersection where they staged a one-hour oration opposing the plan as the Antara News explains.

Some of the demonstrators carried posters which among others read “One hectare is equal to Rp50,000 plus sin. No way”.

Agung Wardana, the rally`s coordinator, said the activity was part of campaigns to make the people aware of the danger of global warming.

“Unless we take concrete steps to address the matter, there will be climate anomaly in all countries in the world,” he said.

The rally came as environment ministers of parties to the United Nations climate change conference are holding a meeting in Bogor, West Java, on Oct. 23-24.

The meeting was nothing more than developed nations` effort to force their will on developing countries in managing their forests, he said.

He said developed nations were also held responsible for the global warming as two of them, the US and Australia, were not prepared to ratify the Kyoto Protocol which serves as a joint commitment to put an end to the global warming.

Last month, Indonesia hosted on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Convention in New York a meeting with 10 other tropical rain forest countries.

They issued a joint statement calling for the mobilization of new and additional financial resources to implement non-restrictive policies and positive incentives for forest management and conservation.

New York`s meeting came nearly three months ahead of the UN climate conference in Bali in December which will seek to lay the groundwork for a new climate deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012.