World Bank pledges assistance for climate change management program

The Jakarta Post

NEW YORK (Antara): The World Bank has pledged technical and financial assistance for climate change management program as part of its wider support for Indonesian development agenda.

The pledge is contained in a joint statement between the World Bank and the Indonesian government, issued after a bilateral meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and World Bank President Robert B Zoellick on the sidelines of the 62nd UN General Assembly session in New York on Tuesday.

In an effort to deal with the climate change, Indonesia will host a global summit in the island resort of Bali in December this year.

Both Yudhoyono and Zoellick in their bilateral meeting attached the significance of the Bali summit to seek global consensus in the mitigation of climate change.

In the preparation for the Bali conference, Indonesia has taken various initiatives to reduce green house gas emission and deforestation.

Speaking at the annual high-level debate at UN Headquarters here on Tuesday, President Yudhoyono said the solution to the problems posed by climate change must be linked to sustainable development so that the world's least affluent countries can conquer poverty.

On the occasion, Yudhoyono said it was important to not lose sight of the fight against poverty when trying to combat climate change.

He said the global summit in Bali "must yield a new roadmap" that spells out what both the developed and developing world must do "to save humankind and its planet from the looming tragedy of climate change."

The Bali summit seeks to determine future action on mitigation, adaptation, the global carbon market and financing responses to climate change for the period after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol -- the current global framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions -- in 2012.

Yudhoyono said the summit must produce an outcome and timeline that will be more comprehensive and more ambitious in achieving its practical objectives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"We developing countries must protect our natural resources while using them wisely for development," Yudhoyono added.