Did not mean that our environmental diplomacy is placed in secondary position. On the contrary, it shall be one of the support systems to the economic one.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Environmental diplomacy is expected to support economic diplomacy that has been one of Indonesia's priorities on foreign policy in tune with President Joko Widodo’s mission for his second-term administration for 2019-2024.

"This did not mean that our environmental diplomacy is placed in secondary position. On the contrary, it shall be one of the support systems to the economic one," Director General of Multilateral Cooperation of the Foreign Affairs Ministry Febrian Alphyanto Ruddyard remarked in Jakarta on Wednesday.

This is viewed as being in line with the efforts to achieve the 2030 agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed at realizing harmony and synergy of the economical, social, and environmental sectors.

"In fact, several developed countries often only embrace the environmental issue and pay less attention to the two other sectors," Ruddyard pointed out.

In this context, Indonesia's environmental diplomacy shall be able to offer room to grow in the economical dimension whilst fighting for its own cause.

Thus, integration of the environmental and economic diplomacy along with the social aspect is deemed necessary, as Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, chief of the Advisory Council on Climate Change Monitoring of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, stated.

One of the steps to apply this principle is to conduct commodity trade within the scope of clear environmental standards acceptable to all parties, for instance, the FLEGT license for wooden products, or RSPO certification for palm oil products.

Such acts are expected to curb black campaigns targeting wooden and palm oil products. "Hence, the accusation that a product infringes upon environmental rules can be seen as a form of business rivalry," Kusumaatmadja stated.

During 2019, the issue of environmental diplomacy is deemed significant as some conferences held following this matter, began with the fourth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-4) that was then followed by the High-Level Conference of Parties (COP), such as the Basel Convention, Rotterdam Convention, Stockholm Convention, CITES, UNCCD, UNHABITAT, and the upcoming UNFCCC COP25.

Towards the UNFCCC COP25, the 2019 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Madrid, Spain, on December 2-13, 2019, Indonesia is currently preparing to highlight the issues of climate change, waste management, and circular economy as well as the efforts to mitigate deforestation and forest and peatland degradation.



Translator: Yashinta Difa Pramudyani, Suwa
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2019