Indonesia Ratifies Paris Climate Deal
Jakarta, 19 Muharram 1438/20 October 2016 (MINA) – Indonesia’s Parliament has ratified the Paris Agreement on climate change, cementing the country’s commitment to reduce toxic carbon emissions and fight global warming.
According to The Star, the global environment pact was approved by lawmakers during a plenary session in the House Wednesday morning.
The binding Paris Agreement, aimed at curbing the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, will see emissions slashed and global temperature increases kept to “well below” two degrees Celsius.
Indonesia, one of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters, produced 760 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents in 2012. The figure reached 1,981 million tonnes if the effects of deforestation and other land-use changes were included, according to data from global environment think-tank, World Resources Institute (WRI).
The government has faced international pressure to enforce land-management reforms after massive land and forest fires blamed on oil palm and pulp and paper businesses led to devastating regional haze crisis last year.
The clearing of peatland using the cheap slash-and-burn technique releases great volumes of carbon into the atmosphere.
Indonesia has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 29 per cent by 2030, and up to 41 per cent with foreign support including technology and finance.
Indonesia’s ratification will help to advance the deal’s enactment, which was agreed in Paris last December by more than 190 countries after years of negotiations.
The agreement requires at least 55 countries, representing at least 55 per cent of the total greenhouse gas emissions, to ratify it before it comes into force.
Malaysia’s pledges
Meanwhile, Malaysia will ratify the Paris climate change agreement on November 4 as it is committed to combating global climate change, says Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
He announced that he will table the paper to the cabinet for approval and subsequently deposit the ratification document with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in New York.
“To date, 81 countries have ratified the treaty,” he told reporters at Parliament lobby yesterday.
The Paris Agreement will enter into force on November 4, 2016, 30 days after the date on which at least 55 parties to the Convention — accounting in total for at least an estimated 55 per cent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions — have deposited their ratification documents with the Depositary.
He said ratification was crucial as it would allow Malaysia to participate in the drafting of procedures and models aimed at reducing global carbon emissions.
A total of 197 countries signed the Paris Agreement aimed at reducing carbon emissions by 2030.
Malaysia is the fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in ASEAN, behind Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, contributing to 0.52 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions.
Malaysia has pledged to cut its greenhouse emissions by 45 per cent by 2030.
The country has introduced several measures towards this, such as developing new cities to be carbon neutral, giving tax incentives to companies that report and limit their emissions, procuring more environmentally-friendly government assets and planting 13 million new trees since 2011.
Malaysia aims to cut another 32 million tonnes from its carbon emissions by 2020. (T/R07/R01)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
