Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category
Menuju Kopenhagen
Pertemuan Para Pihak Ke-15 (COP-15) tentang Perubahan Iklim di Kopenhagen, Denmark, terasa penting karena menentukan skema pasca-Protokol Kyoto 2012.
Namun, keraguan besar membayangi hasil yang akan dicapai. Komitmen negara maju untuk menurunkan emisi masih dipertanyakan. Posisi China dan India yang dianggap kunci dari negara berkembang juga belum jelas.
Hasil penelitian terbaru Maplecroft menambah amunisi China dan India untuk tidak terikat target penurunan emisi. Lembaga ini menyebutkan, emisi karbon China, yang secara total lebih besar dari negara lain, hanya 4,5 ton per kapita per per tahun dan India 1,1 ton. Ini jauh di bawah Australia dan Amerika Serikat yang 20,5 ton dan 19,7 ton per kapita. Terkait hal itu, Presiden Barack Obama merasa perlu berkunjung ke China dan akan menerima kunjungan Perdana Menteri India di Washington.
Will the forestry sector be pretty in Copenhagen?
The Jakarta Post, 8 December 2009
Copenhagen will be at the center of attention these coming weeks. The Conference of Parties (CoP) 15 on climate change is an undeniably major event that will decide the next steps in mitigating global warming. Most climate change analysts agree this is a crucial meeting to discuss post-Kyoto Protocol actions.
However, there are still some doubts shadowing the possible outcomes of this meeting. The commitment of developed countries to reduce their carbon emissions is still questionable. The positions of the developing world’s two leading emitters, i.e. China and India, are also dubious. Given the fact that their emissions per capita are much lower than developed nations, they have a strong argument against setting themselves binding targets. Read the rest of this entry »
Tafsir Ekologis Cicak vs Buaya
Perseteruan “cicak vs buaya” masih kabur bagaimana ujungnya. Belum selesainya penanganan kasus Bibit-Chandra, ditambah pengakuan terakhir Wilardi Wizard dalam kasus Antasari Azhar semakin membuat episode ini penuh kejutan. Tak kurang, energi bangsa tersedot untuk ini. Cerita program 100 hari pemerintahan Yudhoyono-Budiono tak lagi menarik bagi memori publik. Rakyat seakan menyaksikan dengan tegang rangkaian klimaks dan anti-klimaks yang bakal terjadi dalam pertunjukan ini.
Cicak vs buaya
Tak disengaja, pengistilahan “cicak vs buaya” seakan menyiram bensin ke api, membesar seketika. Langsung saja istilah ini mengigatkan kita pada kisah Daud vs Jalut. Nurani kemanusiaan memang cenderung membela yang lemah. Karena itu, kesalahan pertama pihak polisi sesungguhnya ketika memandang KPK sebagai pihak yang lemah (cicak).
Hasan dan Hutan
Harian Kompas, 29 Oktober 2009
Kabinet Indonesia Bersatu jilid II telah dilantik. Sebagian besar pengamat menyayangkan dominannya politisi di kabinet ini. Janji presiden untuk menempatkan lebih banyak profesional tak terwujud.
Presiden memercayakan Menteri Kehutanan kepada politikus. Agaknya Presiden percaya, departemen ini tak memerlukan pemimpin cakap teknis, cukup cakap politis. Ini menggambarkan, pembuat kebijakan negeri yakin, sektor kehutanan tak menghadapi soal teknis. Kalangan rimbawan(ti) Indonesia berkeluh kesah dengan kondisi ini. Tak layakkah rimbawan(ti) menduduki posisi Manggala Wanabakti (MWB) 1?
We must prove our resilience in the face of disaster
The Jakarta Post, September 10, 2009
The disasters just keep coming and coming. Dozens of people died and hundreds more were injured last week when a powerful earthquake hit West Java. This seismic activity was even shook the nation’s capital. These sorts of terrifying tremors undeniably haunt the life of people in Indonesia, from Sabang to Merauke.
The movement of the tectonic plates along the Ring of Fire, which engulfs the country, puts Indonesia in a precarious position. Unpredictable seismic activity, together with the risk of tsunami, cause great uncertainty. But this is not the end of the story. This year, there is also concern about the possibility of a prolonged dry season and perhaps even a drought because of the El Nino phenomenon and, all the while we still face the threat of the spread of the swine and bird flu.
The mining curse: A lesson from Sawahlunto
The Jakarta Post, July 18, 2009
Mining activities again claimed casualties. Tens of people were killed after a mining blast in Sawahlunto, West Sumatra, in June. The explosion of this private small-scale coal mine was initiated by the methane level in the mine. This tragedy added to the list of small-scale mining tragedies in the country.
However, it is not only small-scale mining; we have already seen destructive effects of large-scale mines. Lapindo Brantas mudflow disaster has not yet been resolved. Hundreds of families lost their homes due to this tragedy. The mud has also continued to spread. The accumulation of Mercury at the Buyat Bay, caused by gold mining of Newmont several years ago, is another example. The accumulation of this poisonous mineral still haunts the lives of people around that bay, where they depend on the bay as a source of water and fishing. This is not the end of the story. Coal mining in Kalimantan, for instance, has resulted thousands hectares of tropical forests being transformed into desert. Are we cursed by our abundance of natural resources?
