October 31 2008: Jakarta, Java, Indonesia - Greenpeace Esperanza Expedition (sitios de interés)

Forests For Climate: the great tree protection scheme

From our blog: Change is in the air today. We’re picking up several new crew members who are joining us for the journey to Sumatra and the peatlands of Riau province. As I’ve been escorting one or two of them around the Esperanza, I can’t help thinking back to when I first came on board barely more than three weeks ago. It’s odd to think that this ship which is now so familiar was once just as new to me as well.

But the big event today was perhaps the lynchpin of the entire expedition. In the VIP room of the bustling passenger terminal at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, we presented our Forests For Climate plan to get money flowing from developed countries to fund forest protection in Indonesia, Brazil and elsewhere, with the eventual aim of zero deforestation across the globe.

The event was jointly hosted with the Indonesian environment minister, Rachmat Witoelar who opened the meeting. “Climate change cannot be held back if we continue with business as usual,” he said, adding that he wanted Indonesia to move to a low carbon economy while at the same time solving the economic problems which forces large numbers of the population to live in poverty.

The Esperanza berthed in Tanjung Priok port, Jakarta
© Greenpeace/Novis

© 2008 Greenpeace