Indonesia Affected by Climate Disaster
To End Climate Change, Indonesia Calculates Emission Reduction
Update | January 25, 2016 11:45

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Indonesia is already affected by climate change with temperatures having risen by between 0.16 and 1.44 degrees Celsius. Drought in some places has caused uncertainty for farmers in the initial rice planting season this year. Climate change is also characterized by chaos in weather patterns in the country.

Climate change, also characterized by low rainfall, has led to a two-month delay in the first planting season and farmers are at risk of not being able to grow rice during the gadu, the dry planting season.

A senior lecturer at the Oceanography Department of the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB)'s Maritime Science and Technology School, Alan Koropitan, Saturday (23/1/2016), that there was no doubt climate change had already occurred, without people being aware of its gradual impacts.

The effects of climate change are apparent, for example, in the increasing frequency and strength of tropical cyclones. Earlier, the storms never took place in tropical countries like Indonesia. However, as they intensified, their tails can now reach Indonesia. "In 2012, the Iggy storm was spawned in Australia and its effects reached the waters of Indonesia," said Alan.

The director of the Southeast Asia and Pacific Center for Climate Risk and Opportunity Management, Rizaldi Boer, pointed out that "Global warming and climate change have caused uncertainty in the climate patterns; so much so farmers face difficulties in determining the planting period." In Cirebon and Indramayu, for instance, farmers experienced delays in their planting periods.

The impact of climate change does not stand alone as it enlarges and increases the frequency of disasters.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) recorded that the Iggy storm triggered a rise in the frequency of cyclones and claimed the lives of 14 people in a number of regions.

Based on Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) data, Indonesia was impacted by the Kirrily tropical storm over the Kei Island chain in the Banda Sea on April 27, 2009, which triggered torrential rains and storms.

Rising disaster

According to BNPB chief spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the general trend in the increase of hydro-meteorological disasters in Indonesia continues to increase from year to year. Floods, droughts, forest fires and cyclones make up 90 percent of disasters in Indonesia. "Hydro-meteorological disasters are influenced by the dynamics of climate and weather, as well as being anthropogenic [caused by humans]," said Sutopo.

In 2002, there were fewer than 200 hydro-meteorological disasters in Indonesia, but in 2015 there were 1,665 incidents. Better data collection has increased those numbers, according to Sutopo, but besides that the frequency of the cases is also increasing, especially of cyclones and floods. In Indonesia, an average of 445 floods occur annually. The increase in hydro-meteorological disasters is not just seen in frequency, but also in distribution, scale and intensity.

Another real impact of climate change is the frequency of the El Niño and La Niña weather phenomena. "The La Niña and El Niño phenomena are actually a cycle. However, if they occured once in three to seven years previously, they occur more often now," said Sutopo. "They have made impacts on food security, floods and droughts," he added.

Apart from the factors of climate change, the intensity of disasters also worsens environmental damage on the Earth's surface. The rise of sea levels by major cities has further worsened land subsidence because of excessive ground water extraction. According to the director of marine spatial planning at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, Subandono, cities located along on the coast of Java, such as Pekalongan, will be inundated by sea water up to 2.1 kilometers inland in the next 100 years. "Semarang would be engulfed up to 3.2 kilometers from the coastline," said Subandono.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) reported last week that the highest temperatures ever recorded on Earth since observations began being made in 1880 were experienced throughout 2015.

Everyone contributes

Climate change is attributed to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions caused by the growing use of fossil fuels during the Industrial Revolution and afterwards.

Developed countries agreed to seek a solution through the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) and efforts are being focused on curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Developed countries are required to reduce emissions. Based on the principle of "common but different responsibilities", the advanced countries susceptible to the impacts of climate change must adapt to them.

The industrialized countries are asked to help through funding schemes, transfer of technology and capacity building.

In 2009, Indonesia declared it would voluntarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent independently and 41 percent with foreign assistance compared to the amount of gas it would emit if there is no intervention, which is called the business as usual (BAU) scenario. Thus was born Presidential Regulation No. 61/2011 on a national action plan for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, which was later reviewed and revised.

Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, France, in December 2015, each country was asked to submit its national intention to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, called its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC). Indonesia targeted a 29 percent emissions reduction from BAU and 41 percent with foreign assistance.

"We have to make sure how to involve all parties to reduce emissions. Our target [INDC] was completed this year," said the director general of climate change control at the Environment and Forestry Ministry, Nur Masripatin.

If Indonesia ratifies the Paris Climate Change Conference, which is the world reference, the government must get approval from the House of Representatives and its implementation must be regulated by law.

(IKI/AIK/ICH/JOG/ISW)

Sumber: http://print.kompas.com/baca/2016/01/25/Indonesia-Affected-by-Climate-Disaster