November 25, 2024
JAKARTA – It is that time of the year again when the United Nations climate change conference runs longer than scheduled only to produce an inadequate deal about how the world, especially rich nations, fund efforts to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Also unchanged at this year’s COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan is that Indonesia has once again shown a weak will toward the climate crisis.
Indonesia’s focus going into COP29, hosted in the petrostate capital of Baku, could be summed up by the keynote speech made by presidential envoy and businessman Hashim Djojohadikusumo: Creating jobs, eradicating hunger and reducing poverty while taking care of the environment.
While boasting about the goal of 75 gigawatts of renewable energy in the next couple of years, Hashim also defended food estate projects in the country. He argued that such projects, which are also promoted by his brother, President Prabowo Subianto, are Indonesia’s right in order to push for food security for its people.
Placing the environment at the end of the list indicates the government’s willingness to go all in to ramp up the economy first and foremost, especially since President Prabowo told international forums during his inaugural foreign tours in the past week of his plan to reach 8 percent economic growth in order to eliminate poverty and hunger.
It is never wrong, of course, to fight poverty and spur economic growth, especially in Indonesia where more than one in 10 people are living below the poverty line. However, such a target should not come at the expense of the environment, considering we are in the age of what United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has referred to as “global boiling”.
Even with all the measures enacted up until now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, scientists have projected that we will pass the 1.5 degree threshold of global temperature rise. The impacts of such a temperature rise would be irreversible and fatal, causing millions, if not billions, of people to die from more storms and droughts, as well as other impacts of the changing climate.
Rather than aiming for a drastic increase in gross domestic product (GDP), Indonesia should work seriously toward achieving sustainable growth, which is defined by the UN as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Such sustainable development can only be achieved by pushing for low-carbon economic activity.
For example, rather than clearing pristine forests in Papua for food estates, the government should select an already-degraded plot of land to build its large-scale food farms. Better yet, the authorities should push for locally produced food, rather than large-scale food production, which experts believe could potentially solve the issues of food security, climate and local economy in one go.
We realize that these efforts need money, however, this is only more reason for Indonesia to show strong commitment on climate crisis mitigation and adaptation so that it can become a leader in the negotiation room on such issues. By taking the lead, Indonesia would be able to fight not only for ourselves, but also for other Global South countries that will be most vulnerable to the impacts of global boiling.
Indonesia’s determination should be shown by strong and committed work on the ground, starting by protecting forests across the archipelago, rather than clearing them for agricultural, let alone mining, purposes. Another crucial test of the country’s commitment to saving the planet is the pace at which it realizes its transition to renewable energy.
Climate issues should be the main perspective to guide Indonesia’s policies at home and abroad, especially when talking about the economy. Because what benefit is high economic growth if the planet that we are living on is becoming forever uninhabitable?