Indonesians join Bali climate protest
No commentsKamol Sukin The Nation, Bali
Some 1,000 local residents and activists yesterday afternoon joined international activists in a climate change rally in Denpasar, the capital of Bali .
It was the first chance for local people in Indonesia, especially those from Bali itself, to take a direct part in the global climate talks which opened on 3 December.
The rally snaked along the main road near Denpasar’s central park, the Renon Park, and was joined by many delegates from the talks, the 13th meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), scheduled to continue until 14 December. Participants included fishermen, farmers and others liable to be affected by the outcome of the talks, and by rising temperatures.
The rally was organised as part of an International Day of Action held across the world and online, which aimed to promote action to solve the climate crisis.
“Action now,” the activists demanded, from different fields of expertise and interest but united in their concern. They called on participants at the conference to go beyond discussion to act to cut greenhouse gases rapidly.
Their banners sought to educate local residents as well as the media teams from around the world gathered in Bali.
A number of police were present but no violence was reported. The rally began at around 2 pm and lasted until 6 pm.
Meanwhile at the Bali International Convention Centre the delegates continued their meeting as normal to ensure that all the proposals would be ready by Wednesday, the next significant step when the negotiating process kicks off.
The Bali talks are expected to end on Friday and the results signed off by the heads of delegations from all UNFCCC member countries.
Also the UNFCCC yesterday announced that 8 December would be World Forest Day, to focus attention every aspec of forests and climate.
The Day was marked at Bali’s Ayodya Hotel near the conference venue, led by UNFCC’s executive secretary Yvo de Boer.
Each day 25 side events are organised as well as 39 poster presentations, 17 exhibition booths and 4 cross-cutting sessions. The events were joined by both official and non-government al organisation representatives.
The UNFCCC secretariat yesterday also announced that today was to be a day without any official activities at the BICC. Many participants headed for a day trip around the island. The Indonesian government was also providing free trips for all journalists to the popular religious site of Borobudur in Java.
Note: the story is written for The Nation Newspaper, Thailand, for Sunday Dec 9.
