Head of BMKG suggests Government should stem the pace of climate change
Source: ANTARA
Date: Aoril 14, 2022
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Head Dwikorita Karnawati urged the government to immediately take comprehensive and measured mitigatory steps to stem the pace of climate change.
In a statement on Wednesday, Karnawati noted that if this condition continues, then the temperature in all of Indonesia's main islands can rise by four degrees Celsius by 2100, four folds higher than the pre-industrial period.
It is due to this temperature rise that the peak of Jaya Wijaya in Papua, which was covered in ice of 31.49-m thickness in 2020, will have no ice at all by 2025.
"Mitigation has to be conducted soon. It cannot be delayed because the present situation is worrisome," Karnawati emphasized during the Northern Province Regional Atmosphere Dynamics Seminar on Tuesday.
"For instance, Cyclone Seroja that struck East Nusa Tenggara last year. The cyclone should not have emerged within that region, but it did due to climate change," she added.
The rise in temperature will trigger extreme weather and climate anomaly that become more frequent. The intensity will increase with long duration.
This condition will certainly be harmful for Indonesians and not only will it cause material losses, such as infrastructure, but will also claim human lives, she stated.
"Do not be surprised when rains and floods occur during the dry season or when the dry season became hotter and drier. Moreover, heavier rainfall will be recorded during the monsoon season that triggers hydrometeorological disasters," she cautioned.
Hydrometeorological disasters in Indonesia increase, making it the biggest disaster, with a percentage of 95 percent, Karnawati noted.
In 2021, the incidents of disasters reached 5,402 that supposedly came about as the impact of global climate change.
The government, along with all elements of society, must work together to take mitigatory actions, she emphasized.
These actions can be taken right from saving electricity and water, conducting waste management, reducing use of fossil energy and replacing it with electric cars, curbing circulation of single-use plastics, planting trees, conducting mangrove restoration, and others.
