GREENPEACE URGES PRESIDENT TO MEET EMISSION CUT COMMITMENT

Jakarta, Nov. 21 (ANTARA) - Around 100 Greenpeace activists staged a peaceful rally at the Hotel Indonesia circle here on Saturday to urge President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to meet his commitment to effecting a carbon emission cut in Indonesia.

"We ask the President to show his leadership in reducing carbon emissions in line with the commitment he announced at the G20 Summit," Greenpeace Southeast campaigner Yuyun Indraji said at the rally.

"When the temperature increases, the ice on the North Pole will melt and this will raise the sea level and, as a consequence, lands will be submerged. We as an archipelagic country are to experience this phenomenon," she said.

Currently, around 50 percent of the world's total carbon is in Indonesia's forests and peatlands. Meanwhile, Indonesia is the third largest carbon emitter after the US and China, she said.

"Indonesia contributes around 20 percent to the carbon emission. If it does not do something soon, the situation will become worse," she said.

Of Indonesia's over two million hectares of peatlands, around 50 percent was damaged due to deforestation and forest conversion into plantation areas.

"Kampar Peninsula is one of the world's largest carbon sinks. If the Kampar forests are destroyed by pulp and paper industries, that will be clearly contrary to President Yudhoyono's commitment," she said.

Greenpeace last Thursday (Nov. 19), welcomed Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan's statement ordering APRIL (RAPP) to halt its forest clearing activity on the carbon-rich peatlands of the Kampar Peninsula, Riau, Sumatra, pending review of their permits.

Minister Zulkifli's statement followed a Greenpeace non-violent direct action on November 12 at an APRIL concession in Kampar to highlight active clearing of peatland forests by the company for pulp and paper.

Greenpeace expected the Forestry Minister to do a comprehensive review of all the existing permits and concessions for pulp and paper companies in the Kampar Peninsula, said Bustar Maitar, Greenpeace Southeast Asia Forest campaigner, said as reported on Greenpeace's official website.

"Saving these forests is something that the Indonesian people want - as demonstrated by the overwhelming support our climate defender's camp has received over last few weeks," he added.