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By David Fogarty
MONTREAL, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Indonesia urged the United States to back the Kyoto Protocol climate change pact on Wednesday, saying the threat from climate change for the world's fourth most populous nation was very real.
Resource-rich Indonesia, with 220 million people, is a vast archipelago that is heavily reliant on agriculture. But Asia's only OPEC member also depends on fossil fuels to generate electricity and its major cities are heavily polluted.
Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said rainfall patterns were already changing in Indonesia and the country was at risk from rising sea levels.
"Indonesia wants to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. It is our conviction that the whole world is being damaged," he told Reuters on the sidelines of a U.N. climate change conference in the Canadian city of Montreal.
"We back Kyoto and back the future of the pact. We will not let Kyoto be hindered by any other concepts," he said.
The European Union and host Canada also piled pressure on the United States on Wednesday to join the Kyoto pact.
The United States has pulled out of Kyoto, saying emission curbs enshrined in the treaty were bad for its economy, and has instead backed voluntary targets and clean technology as the way to tackle climate change.
"It's a worry," Witoelar said of American objections.
"I think they should come to a decision to join the mainstream of the world in terms of mitigating the damage from greenhouse gases."
In Montreal, the U.S. delegation has also dismissed a Canadian proposal for talks looking at ways to involve all countries in tackling climate change.
REAL THREAT
Witoelar said the threat from climate change was very real.
"We are one of the countries most vulnerable because we are archipelagic and because we are a nation emerging and we are trying to build up our economy."
He said Indonesia wanted to clean up its economy but needed help.
"Indonesia wants to develop within the context of environmentally friendly energy. That is why we are developing alternative energy," he said. The government, for example, is looking to expand electricity output from geothermal plants.
But he said the government could not afford this on its own.
"That is why we are entering into MOUs with Canada, Austria and Denmark," he said, referring to memorandums of understanding under which rich nations give Indonesia money to invest in return for lowering its carbon emissions.
The process is under the Clean Development Mechanism, part of the Kyoto Protocol, that aims to allow industrialised nations to claim carbon credits from projects in poor countries.
He said Indonesia was looking at raising taxes to curb car ownership and cut pollution in its biggest cities.
The government was also looking at lowering emissions from power stations as well as cement and palm oil factories.
"Time is pressing. It's not running out. We are optimistic of the future but we need to do more. We need more speed," he said.
Reuters
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