RI's emissions have decreased: Report

Wednesday, 14 January 2009

The Jakarta Post

The government reported a significant decrease in the country's greenhouse gas emissions that could be used to counter a series of international reports ranking Indonesia as the world's third
largest polluter.

A draft of the second national communication report showed that the country's total emissions between 2000 and 2006 stood at 638,975 giga tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) per year, compared to 952,200 giga tons CO2e in 1994.

"But, we are still calculating emissions from peat land before launching the report, slated for March," Masnellyarti Hilman, deputy director for nature conservation enhancement and environment degradation control at the ministry told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

She said that the forestry and energy sectors were still the main contributors to the country's emissions, accounting for 72 percent of the total.

The draft said that emissions from solid waste contributed 16 percent, while the agriculture and industrial sectors accounted for eight and four percent respectively.

Indonesia conducted its last inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in 1994 and submitted that report to the United Nation's Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1999.

The UN requires rich countries, that are signatories of the Kyoto Protocol, to submit data on emissions every year.

Submitting a national report is voluntary for developing countries, including Indonesia.

The inventory is necessary for the country to formulate its action plan to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The British Department for International Development and Consultancy earlier said that Indonesia had become the world's third largest emitter because of rapid deforestation.

The world's largest emitter, the United States, releases 6,005 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (MtCO2e) annually, followed by China with 5,017 mtCO2e. The majority of the emissions in both countries come from the energy sector.

Indonesia's yearly emissions are estimated to be 3,014 MtCO2, mostly from land conversion and forest destruction, which contributed to about 2,563 MtCO2e of the total.