Head of the agency Dwikorita Karnawati said in 14 years of gauging green house gas emission at the station of Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) or at the station of Global Atmosphere Watch in Bukit Koto Tabang, West Sumatra showed that the concentration of carbondioxide (CO2) grew around 1.94 ppm per year - from 371.7 ppm in June 2004 to 398.8 ppm in June 2018.
"Earlier, Indonesia was accused of being the third largest contributor of green house gas emission in the world . That was a world`s accusation. However, thanks to control or observation by BMKG we can prove that the accusation was not based on correct data. With the GAW Station we can back up our data. The increase in CO2 was 1.94 ppm since 1996 until 2018. The 1.94 ppm increase was below the world average of more than 2 ppm. That means , if we are still below the world average , we could not be the third largest in the world," Dwikorita told reporters in a news conference here on Tuesday.
Indonesia recorded an increase in the CO2 concentration but increase was recorded by the whole world from time to time.
Rising trend has been recorded by all but Indonesia was not among the major contributors, Dwikorita said.
She called on all to have sense of responsibility for mitigating climate change.
"We will continue to watch and control and seek to reduce greenhouse gas emission systematically," she said.
Even if the increase in the CO2 concentration in Indonesia is not as high as said by the GAW Mauna Loa station in the United States, the data and information from the GAW station in Bukit Koto Tabang is useful for reference in mitigating climate change and in climate change practical negotiations, she said.
She said the GAW station of Bukit Koto Tabang meets the international standard including in human resource capacity and equipment, adding, its data have been internationally recognized.
She said greenhouse observation by BMKG is in line with the Indonesian commitment to taking part in mitigation actions based on the Paris Agreement in 2015 and the official commitment of Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
Indonesia has expressed its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emission 29 percent by itself or 41 percent with international support by 2030.
The Station of Global Atmosphere Watch is a global atmosphere observation station with world standard observation system.
The GAW Station also observes the air quality as it could not go separately from observation of greenhouse gas.
Currently there are 13 stations of global atmosphere watch spread in various countries in the world. In Indonesia, there is the GAW Station in Bukit Koto Tabang, West Sumatra, a working unit under the coordination of BMKG and a contributor to data to the World Data Centre (WDC) including data of greenhouse gases of ozon and CO2 , solar radiation data and aerosol, operating since 7 December 1996.
BMKG with fund from the state budget in 2013 built stations of Global Atmosphere Watch in Lore Lindu Bariri Palu, Central Sulawesi to represent data of greenhouse gases in Central Indonesia and another station in Puncak Vihara Klademak Sorong, Papua for eastern Indonesia.
Currently BMKG is equipped the two DAW stations in Palu and Sorong to meet and win the international standards and certificate.
Reporting by Martha Herlinawati S
Editing by A Saragih, Yoseph Hariyadi
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Andi Abdussalam
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
