VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) urged fishers and environmental activists to plant mangroves in coastal areas to anticipate a rise in sea levels due to climate change.

He noted that the rise in sea levels due to climate change has also affected small islands in the world.

"Our small islands have been affected; many small islands in the Pacific islands have been lost; beware," he said at the 2023 Environment, Climate, Forestry, New Renewable Energy (LIKE) Festival here on Monday.

He highlighted that the threat of climate change is increasingly becoming real and has been felt by many countries.

Climate change can result in sea level rise, extreme weather, and landslides.

The President also discussed the environmental damage that needs to be anticipated.

He advised environmental activists, traditional leaders, social forestry groups, extension workers, and other parts of society to reactivate forest rehabilitation.

President Widodo affirmed that the government is also carrying out several efforts to rehabilitate the environment as part of measures to anticipate the impact of climate change. Those efforts have included building seed nursery facilities.

Near Jakarta, the government has built a nursery facility in Rumpin, Bogor district, with a production capacity of six million seedlings per year.

"Beware, environmental damage causes us to suffer many landslides. Why did we open (a nursery (center) in Rumpin? Because landslides occurred in West Java," he said.

The government has also built a plant nursery center in the new capital Nusantara, namely in Mentawir, North Penajam Paser, before building other infrastructures in the new capital.

In addition, the government has set up a mangrove nursery center in Denpasar, Bali, with a capacity of six million seedlings. President Widodo had invited G20 leaders to visit the nursery center on the sidelines of the 2022 G20 Summit in Bali.

"They (G20) were impressed by the nursery process there," he said. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia will target the Latin American automotive spare parts market through the Indonesia-Latin America and the Caribbean (INA-LAC) Business Forum 2023, which will be held in Jakarta on October 16 and 17.

Director general of American and European Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Umar Hadi, said that automotive spare parts are among potential export commodities given their considerable market share in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In addition, Indonesia has very large opportunities to export pharmaceutical and furniture products to Latin America and the Caribbean, he added.

"We hope when business actors meet (at the INA-LAC forum) there will be more productive interactions," Hadi said at a press conference in Jakarta on Monday.

INA-LAC, which has been held since 2019, is a business forum that seeks to support interactions and dialogues between business actors and potential investors from Indonesia and the Latin America and Caribbean region.

The forum will include plenary sessions, panel discussions, business networking, business pitching, and business matching.

Hadi said that he is targeting the participation of 100 companies from the Latin American and Caribbean regions at this year's annual forum.

He added that organizing INA-LAC this year is important to expand Indonesia's markets in Latin American countries since next year, the attention of the business world will be focused on the Latin American region when Brazil hosts the G20 Summit.

Another country in Latin America, Peru, will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum next year.

Deputy chairperson for maritime, investment, and foreign affairs coordination at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sinta W. Kamdani, said that the Latin American and Caribbean region has a very large market potential.

Indonesia cannot just rely on traditional export markets, such as the United States and the European Union (EU), she added.

"The total population (in the Latin American and Caribbean region) is 660 million people. The EU population is 448 million. Thus, the INA-LAC market is much larger than the EU," said Kamdani.

In 2022, the INA-LAC Business Forum helped organize more than 100 business meetings during which agreements worth 16.57 million US dollars were signed in several sectors, such as mining, agriculture, and property investment.

Indonesia's total exports to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2022 were recorded at US$5.75 billion, up 16.50 percent from 2021, according to the ministry.

The leading export products of Indonesia to the Latin American and Caribbean regions were automotive, footwear, palm oil, and rubber, among others. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Financial Services Authority (OJK) Mahendra Siregar believes that Indonesia has huge potential to reduce carbon emissions not only nationally but also globally.

Indonesia's contribution globally can be assessed from the potential success of the carbon trading ecosystem.

"I see (the potential)," Siregar stated at the "National Seminar on Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions & Carbon Trading Opportunities in Indonesia" that was monitored virtually here on Monday.

"We are all calculating globally, and if Indonesia does not succeed in carrying out these (carbon trading), then we cannot be too optimistic that the world will succeed, because in other places, we will not find as much potential as in Indonesia in reducing carbon emissions," he further remarked.

Apart from the potential success of the carbon trading ecosystem on the Carbon Exchange, Siregar drew attention to three other steps that Indonesia can take to become a major player in reducing carbon emissions in the world.

The first is peat restoration that is being carried out in East Tanjung Jabung, Jambi, and can be reused as agricultural land.

He called for the need for wider expansion of the program in various regions of Indonesia as a commitment to Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).

Second, the government and stakeholders must work together to improve the socio-economic welfare of the community, as it is also part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"This is the basis of what is called the Triple Bottom Line of sustainable development, increasing social welfare, growing economic development, and maintaining and developing the environment, including its green aspects," Siregar noted.

According to Siregar, the third step is the need to call for the implementation of environmental and economic sustainability policies throughout Indonesia and not just in Jambi, without neglecting the profitability aspect.

"Because there is a term that says the most sustainable project in the world has to be profitable at the same time. If not, sustainability will actually become a problem," he stated.

In the meantime, Siregar revealed that the OJK will officially launch the Carbon Exchange on September 26, 2023. The Carbon Exchange is a system that regulates Carbon Trading or records ownership of Carbon Units.

As part of the preparations to welcome the Carbon Exchange, national seminars related to carbon trading have been held in Surabaya, Balikpapan, Makassar, Medan, and Jambi.

Jambi was the last province to hold the seminar. Jambi also drew praises from the OJK for being one of the provinces that has the potential to reduce carbon emissions.

He noted that the seminar was held with the aim of increasing capabilities and deepening the understanding of policy makers and stakeholders regarding regulations and carbon trading mechanisms. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) facilitated bilateral cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to realize construction of twin nine-story buildings at Nahdlatul Ulama University (UNU) Yogyakarta, owned by Indonesia's largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

"The government supports improving the quality of education at NU," he said while opening the National Conference of Alim Ulama and the 2023 Nahdlatul Ulama Conference at the Al Hamid Islamic Boarding School, Cipayung, East Jakarta, on Monday.

One of the forms of the government's support is realizing the aspirations of General Chairperson of the Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) Executive Board Yahya Cholil Staquf to build NU University in Yogyakarta.

According to the president, the university's construction had begun last year, and one of the nine-story building twin towers had been completed.

President Jokowi explained that the number of floors in the building held philosophical significance for NU and represented the nine most popular figures, who had propagated Islam in Indonesia, namely the Wali Songo.

"The number of floors is important to NU because it is related to the Wali Songo," the president remarked.

The president stated that the NU had begun using the new building although the final stages of installing interiors and furniture were still underway.

Furthermore, President Jokowi is actively involved in expanding UNU Yogyakarta's educational facilities through diplomatic strategies at the G20 Summit in India.

President Jokowi stated that the UAE is interested in building another nine-story building for the MBZ School of Future Studies.

"Two weeks ago, I spoke with His Excellency Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) at the G20 India Summit. I spoke for half an hour, and we also discussed (about) the NU university," he noted.

President MBZ told President Jokowi that bilateral cooperation, in the form of an additional nine-story building for UNU Yogyakarta, was in process.

President Jokowi noted that President MBZ will send UAE Energy Minister Suhail Mohammed Faraj Al Mazroui to Indonesia to further discuss the UNU Yogyakarta development project.

"The Indonesian government is facilitating UNU Yogyakarta to collaborate with the UAE. The establishment of the MBZ School of Future Studies is in process," he stated.

He expressed optimism that this collaboration for the twin-building construction would be emblematic of Indonesia's closeness to the Islamic world.

"I want UNU Yogyakarta to attract many NU higher education institutions to study science and technology and to compete to become professionals or entrepreneurs while still holding the NU values," he remarked.  (Antaranews)