Environmental Journalists Organize Discussion On Climate Change

Jakarta, Dec 10 (Antara) - The Society of Indonesian Environmental Journalists (SIEJ) and Mercy Corps Indonesia jointly organized a discussion on urban climate change resilience (UCCR) on Tuesday. "The discussions surrounded the performance of seven Indonesian cities in implementing climate change adaptation programs, the impact of climate change on urban areas in Indonesia and solutions arising from different Indonesian cities in minimizing the impact of climate change," SIEJ Director IGG Mahardika said. SIEJ was set up in North Sumatra by a number of reporters who care about the environment. "The number of publications in Indonesia continues to increase. In 2006, the number of print media was pegged at 3,000, not to mention irregular periodicals. However, the quality and quantity of their environmental reportage is still poor," he pointed out. The discussion featured, among others, Ratri Sutarto, Program Manager at Mercy Corps Indonesia; Ari Mochamad, Secretary of the Adaptation Working Group at the National Council for Climate Change and Arif Wibowo, Section Head of the vulnerability of the impact of climate change at the Environment Ministry. "SIEJE hopes that journalists will become more concerned about environmental issues and remain sensitive to issues related to pollution and other matters, which will have a negative impact on the future life," Mahardika said.