Forestry Investment Blog

In Jakarta activists marked Earth Day by urging the government to start taking the environment seriously, while those in Bali declared it Coral Day.
“Indonesia has too much to carry on its shoulders now, economic and social burdens, ecological burdens, disasters everywhere, too much debt and lots of environmental issues,” Teguh Surya, head of advocacy at the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said on a talk show dedicated to Earth Day. “With the Earth Day momentum, it’s more than appropriate to mark it by seeing how far we have damaged our ecology.”

Teguh accused the government of ignoring the need for local people to survive and adapt to global warming and instead focusing their efforts on preventing more damaged caused by global warming.

“Most areas prone to climate change are coastal areas and small islands, but our government’s policies have been focusing only on the forestry sector,” Teguh said.

The project coordinator at the Bank Information Centre, Nadia Hadad said that all climate change funding had focused on mitigation efforts.

“As a developing country, Indonesia needs to adapt, but this issue has never fully been taken into consideration by developed countries because it has no close connection or effect on them,” Nadia said.

Executive director of the Walhi branch in Bengkulu, Zenzi Suhadi claimed that the people didn’t need more money and wanted the government to stop investment.

“These people are very frustrated now seeing how mining and palm oil plantations have stolen their income and livelihood. They just want it stopped,” said Zenzi.

Mining and forestry plantations have taken over a province that once relied on fisheries for its only livelihood. Now the locals have no choice but to encroach on the forests or head further out to sea to catch fish.

In Bali the locals celebrated Earth Day by incorporating it with Coral Day, which was the brainchild of green groups that included Telapak and Kehati (the Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation).

“We hope this movement raises people’s awareness of the importance of coral, especially in tackling climate change,” Telapak activist Ery Damayanti said.

As part of the celebrations a coral adoption programme has been set up, whereby tourists can pay an individual or organisation to plant coral on their behalf. They would also receive a certificate and regular reports on its progress. Donations range from Rp 180,000 to Rp 5 million ($20 to $555), with the money going towards seed supplies and coral treatment.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at 9:17 AM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.