Indonesia eligible for adaptation funds, says envoy

Adianto Simamora in the Jakarta Post: Indonesia, home to the second-largest total length of coastline after Canada, should be eligible for climate adaptation funds because of its high vulnerability to rising sea levels, an official says. The President’s special envoy on climate change, Rachmat Witoelar, said rising sea levels could be a major threat to Indonesia because more than 50 percent of the population lived on the country’s 95,185 kilometers of coastline.
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“Indonesia is among the most vulnerable countries to climate change. We will fight to get the adaptation funds,” he told reporters. Rachmat argued that Indonesia’s low income per capita and high rate of unemployment were factors that should strengthen Indonesia’s right to the funds. Many Indonesians are employed in natural-resource based sectors, such as farming and fishing, which are prone to extreme weather changes caused by climate change.

Rich nations agreed to distribute US$30 billion in so-called adaptation funds from 2010-2012 to the nations most vulnerable to climate change, to help them adapt to the impacts of climate change. They also said they would increase the fund allocation every year until it had reached $100 billion per year by 2020. The Cancun agreement said the eligible countries would be the least-developed nations, including small-island states and African countries.

There are no specific perquisites as to which nations might be eligible. “We will monitor discussions that define the term vulnerable,” Rachmat said. A 2009 study by the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry that covered seven provinces showed that sea levels were increasing by 8 millimeters per year on average….

The Sumatran coast after the tsunami, shot in January 2005, US Navy image