Wednesday November 28, 2007
Indonesia to plant 79 million trees ahead of Bali climate conference
JONGGOL, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia's president launched a campaign Wednesday to plant 79 million trees ahead of a critical climate change conference on the resort island of Bali, but said the country could not protect its rapidly dwindling rain forests alone.
Industrialized countries should help, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said, adding that it was in the world's interests to do so. "They don't have forests, but we do, so if we all want this one Earth of ours to survive, please share'' the burden, he said as he planted a needlewood sapling in Jonggol, 50 kilometers (30 miles) outside Jakarta. "We need technology, financial assistance.''
Indonesia loses around 300 soccer fields of trees every hour due to illegal logging, mining and slash-and-burn land clearing for highly profitable palm oil plantations _ making the country a major contributor to global warming.
Yudhoyono said if the trend continues, future generations will face food and water shortages. Many of the nation's 17,000 islands will be submerged by rising sea waters, and animal and plant species in one of the world's most diverse ecosystems will vanish.
The tree-planting campaign was launched ahead of next month's U.N. Climate Change conference, where world leaders will negotiate a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Rain forest nations like Indonesia argue that they should receive compensation if they reduce global warming by refusing to clear or burn trees.
"Trees are the heroes that are saving the earth,'' Yudhoyono told hundreds of government officials, students and farmers.
Local residents were given seedlings, which they were free to plant wherever they wanted, including in front of their homes.
The government says 79 million trees will be planted nationwide within the next few days. Environmental groups say the program is well-intended but will mean little without an immediate halt to deforestation.-AP
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