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11.
RI WELCOMES AUSTRALIA'S INITIATIVE TO REDUCE CO2 EMISSION
Canberra
- Indonesia welcomes Australia's initiative to help reduce the emissions
of carbon dioxide (C02) into the atmosphere, the Indonesian Ambassador to
Australia and Vanuatu TM Hamzah Thayeb said in Canberra on Thursday
(29/03).
"Indonesia
welcomes whatever efforts from any country, including the Australian
government's initiative," Hamzah Thayeb said in response to Prime
Minister John Howard's announcement about his government's plan to help
forest conservation in the Asia-Pacific region in a bid to support the
World Bank's program of Global Initiative for Forest and Climate.
Howard's
initiative to help forest preservation in the Asia-Pacific region and to
deal with climate change and global warming got different reactions from
Australian politicians.
Green
Party Senator Bob Brown said in a statement he welcomed Howard's A$ 200
million program but opined that the initiative reflected the prime
minister's hypocritical attitude because environment-damaging substances
were still being used to extinguish forest fires in Tasmania.
Howard
on Thursday (29/03) announced his government's initiative to help
reforestation programs in Asia as a response to the climate-change
phenomenon and global warming.
Meanwhile,
the Australian Labor Party said Howard's initiative was a strategy to
serve his general election interests rather than a manifestation of
genuine concern about global climate change.
Earlier
on Wednesday (28/03), British economist Sir Nicholas Stern, who is an
active observer of the global warming issue, called on the Australian
government to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and reduce carbon dioxide emission
by 30 percent in 2020 and by 60 percent in 2050.
"I
think the decision to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide by at least 60
percent in 2050 is the responsibility of rich countries," Stern said.
(Antara, 29/03/07)
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