Archive for November, 2007
A UN climate change report suggesting the world is on the brink of an environmental catastrophe has reignited the political debate over global warming.
The latest report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says millions of people could be affected by rising temperatures and forecasts more heat waves, melting glaciers and rising sea levels if action is not taken.
Labor leader Kevin Rudd says the scientists are sounding a warning bell.
“This is a call to arms for the nation, a call to arms for the world to act now on climate change before it’s too late,” he said.
Mr Rudd restated his plan to immediately ratify the Kyoto protocol if Labor is elected.
But the Prime Minister says that is looking to the past.
“It’s the new Kyoto, the new international arrangement that matters and the Labor Party has adopted our plan,” Mr Howard said.
He says it is a serious challenge that needs a balanced approach.
Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull also criticised Labor’s promise to ratify Kyoto, instead of looking forward to a new agreement.
The new agreement is expected to be negotiated at next month’s UN climate change conference in Bali.
“There will be a new climate change treaty,” he said.
“Kyoto mark 1, if you like, is coming to an end, because the first commitment period, will be over in a few years.
“The focus really needs to be on the new deal, the next agreement.”
Source: ABC News
November 20th, 2007
Finance ministers from across the world will hold a two-day meeting in conjunction with the international conference on climate change next month in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali.
They will discuss financial issues and policies to address the concern of climate change, Indonesian Finance Minister Mulyani Indrawati said Thursday.
The ministers will meet on Dec 10-11 to convince the governments of the respective countries to agree on a ‘common objective on the financial issues of climate change’, leading to a more appropriate policy for sustainable development and support for the global carbon trading market, the minister said.
‘This is important because many developing countries are uneasy about the issue of climate change,’ Indrawati was quoted by a local newspaper Jakarta Post as saying.
‘For many countries that are trying to improve their economies with limited resources, the climate change issue is an additional obstacle to their development. We therefore expect the meeting to provide a positive discussion to sort out the differences between the needs of developing and the developed countries.’
In an assessment released earlier this year, the UN Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change said that efforts to keep global carbon dioxide levels at a sustainable level would cost three percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) and reduce average annual GDP growth rates by 0.12 percent.
Source: Xinhua
November 15th, 2007
A fusion between a traditional wayang (shadow puppet) performance and modern technology has impressed Jakartans during a two-dayshow at Graha Bhakti Budaya hall in Taman Ismail Marzuki, Cikini, Central Jakarta.
The performance, called Wayang Listrik (electric puppet), amused the audience with its funny and critical dialogue presented by one of Bali’s most accomplished puppet masters, I Made Sidia.
Sidia presented a provocative show and proved to his audience that a traditional performance, which might be unappealing to most youngsters, can indeed be entertaining.
The 40-year-old puppeteer kept the audience laughing with his brilliant and innovative jokes in both English and Kawi, an ancient Javanese language.
In his Thursday performance at the hall, Sidia mocked Malaysia over the country’s recent dispute with Indonesia through use of the traditional Indonesian song Rasa Sayange, which Malaysia had used in its tourism campaign.
In Sidia’s Tualen’s Journey story, Tualen, the main character, meets a wild tiger on his travels that he tries to tame by singing the Indonesian national anthem, Indonesia Raya.
However, the tiger in the story becomes angry upon hearing Tualen sing the anthem, after which Tualen asks, “You must be a Malaysian tiger then, huh?”.
Sidia said he used jokes like this to deliver criticism about social and political issues in today’s world through an art performance.
Source: The Jakarta Post
November 3rd, 2007