Sunday 9 December 2007

Some notes on UNFCCC Bali Convention

Emil Salim, the former Indonesian minister of the Environment are not welcomed by the Civil Society Forum (CSF) in their village in Bali. Then there was an incident where unknown shouter shouting “comprador” at him. Tejo Wahyu Jatmiko, the spoke person of CSF apologized through a media conference.

I don’t know why they shouted at him. Although he is the leader of the Indonesian delegation (with the carbon trade proposal) he is not deserved that kind of attitude. I do not know him personally. I met him in the university long time ago when he was still a minister. He came to the university to plant a tree. Perhaps it was ceremonial, but it was the opening of our university’s pilot project on KKN (Kuliah Kerja Nyata) to help the poor in the urban area. It was a volunteer project and I joined the group. Emil Salim explained the basic of knowledge, and he mentioned the need to harmonize the scientific approach with the socio-cultural approach and the economic approach. Hopefully I did not make a wrong mind mapping (it was seventeen years ago)…but I believed that he does not loose his knowledge and his wisdom by being older. Actually he made me more interested in the environmental issues.

I was a bit startled that he envoys the REDD proposal, but I do belief in his integrity towards Indonesia. I actually asked Erna Witoelar, the UN’s Special Ambassador for the Millenium Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific, more about REDD when we’ve met in the architecture seminar. I intended to write something on it for OMNI. She explained that we should not see the incentive first. We should see how the developing countries have got their incentives from exploiting their environments. It is now our obligation to help the earth. The responsibility should be shared globally. The developed countries had succeeded and they have the money, knowledge and technology to help the developing countries to cope and adapt to save the earth without loosing their economic source to grow their nations.

The explanation was making sense, yet something still bother me. I wonder about the people, those who will really be affected to those policies. That is why my article for OMNI did not touch any word from her. I knew I’m not the expert on this subject, so I should become a real journalist in providing news (mmm...still learning). My personal opinion comes in the questions I asked as I represented the citizen.

I’d like to write more on this issue as this is something proposed through the Indonesian delegation. At the same time I should be more careful as I do not really have the chance to cover the story on the spot. It made an awful impact on my daily life, so perhaps this time I should stay as a blogger…not as a citizen reporter. Being a writer is really different from being a reporter. As a contributor writer I can choose something really close to my own views, but as a good reporter I should try my best to cover something important that perhaps I do not really understand yet.



More readings in Bahasa Indonesia for REDD from the Antara News Agency:
http://www.antara.co.id/redd/
http://www.antara.co.id/redd/news/?id=1196167297

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