For Some Indonesians, Climate Change Is Personal | The Jakarta Globe

When Salahuddin Siregar started filming two farming families in a village on the edge of the Mount Merbabu forest in Central Java, he just wanted to document their daily lives.What he ended up with was “Negeri di Bawah Kabut” “The Land Beneath the Fog”, a documentary that examines the impact of climate change on the lives of real people trying to make a living and survive.“It started because I just wanted to make a documentary about their daily lives, as I had been living in [nearby] Yogyakarta for two years,” said the 33-year-old filmmaker.

via For Some Indonesians, Climate Change Is Personal | The Jakarta Globe.

Global Companies Slated to Go Green At Business Meet

 

More than 200 companies from around the globe are expected to attend a key summit in Jakarta this week, where they will sign a pledge to cut their carbon emissions and adopt eco-friendly practices.

The commitment is one of the highlights of the Business for Environment summit (B4E), led annually by the World Wildlife Fund, which runs from Thursday through Friday. A pre-summit event it held on Wednesday.

The meeting encourages executives and entrepreneurs to help solve pressing environmental issues by creating green economies, protecting biodiversity and reducing their carbon footprints. It also promotes the UN’s forestry conservation program.

via The Jakarta Globe.

Indonesia delays deforestation ban

If they wait longer, the forests might not be there for them to protect:

Indonesia’s planned two-year moratorium on deforestation to have begun this month has been postponed. Two government ministries are still trying to reach consensus and agree details of the moratorium on permits to convert natural forests and peatlands, according to the ITTO Tropical Timber Market Report. Views differ on how much and which types of forests should be covered in the moratorium and there is yet no consensus on whether current forest concession- holders will still be permitted to clear any forest or whether they will be included in the ban and be compensated.

via Carbon positive.

How far is Jakarta from becoming a livable city?

Jakarta has been serving as the capital of Indonesia and a center of business activities for decades.

With an area of 661.52 square kilometers, Jakarta is home to 9.6 million people (2010).

In addition, every workday approximately 1.1 million people enter Jakarta from the neighboring cities of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi for work or school.

How are people coping with daily life in Jakarta? Have we achieved livable city conditions? There are five fundamental aspects of livable cities: regional connections, walkability, strong neighborhoods, a network of attractive public spaces and affordability. Do we feel better and healthier? Let’s look at the conditions of our daily routines.

Have we ever thought that our daily commute to the office, school, or other activities should be a joyful, safe and interesting trip? Jakartans hardly find such a pleasant situation in their daily trip. Most of us, especially people from around Jakarta, start the day by leaving early in the morning, often before sunrise, to reach our destinations.

The number of private vehicles is estimated at 8 million which fill Jakarta’s streets, which account for only about 6.2 percent of the city’s total metropolitan area.

If the government relies only on the business as usual strategy to overcome the chaotic traffic, people will be trapped in congestion for a long time, rather than enjoying the trip. And slowly but surely, our daily trip will become a source of psychological stress.

via The Jakarta Post.

RSPO celebrates first 25,000 certified palm oil family farms

As part of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s 8th Roundtable meeting, held this week in Jakarta, Indonesia, RSPO President Jan Kees Vis honored representatives from six smallholder communities and the palm oil mill owners which they supply. “These smallholders prove that RSPO is not and should not be just about large palm oil producers and users,” Mr. Vis said. “Over the next few years, hundreds of thousands more smallholders will become certified producers of sustainable palm oil.”

via GoodLight Natural Candles.

Indonesian Shorelines May Wash Away If Government Does Not Act: Experts

The government’s lack of comprehensive strategy in preventing erosion along the country’s coastlines will pose a threat to the livelihoods of those living along the shore, a Public Works Ministry official said on Thursday.

Making the situation worse is the high population growth rate and unsustainable groundwater extraction by industry.

“Twenty percent of Indonesia’s shores were damaged with abrasion, worsened by global warming that will magnify the intensity and magnitude of abrasion and tidal waves,” said Mochammad Amron, director general of water resources at the Ministry of Public Works.

via Indonesian Shorelines May Wash Away If Government Does Not Act: Experts | The Jakarta Globe.

Indonesia forests being ‘destroyed’

In a report on Tuesday, Greenpeace said it had confidential documents from a Sinar Mas subsidiary, Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), suggesting that the company did not intend to fulfil a promise to source its wood from plantations alone after 2009.

“From analysis of Indonesian government and confidential Sinar Mas maps and data, as well as on-the-ground investigations … APP continues to acquire and destroy rainforest and peatland to feed its two pulp mills in Sumatra,” the environmental group said in the report, referring to the once forest-clad western Indonesian island.

Read more at Al Jazeera English.

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