Opening Remarks in a Presidential Lecture with Sir Nicholas Stern

TRANSCRIPT
OPENING REMARKS
H.E. DR. H. SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
IN A PRESIDENTIAL LECTURE
WITH
SIR NICHOLAS STERN
ADVISOR TO THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER
ON THE ECONOMICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT
BOGOR PALACE, 26 MARCH 2007



Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,
Assalamu’alaikum warrahmatullaahi wabarrakaatuh,

Bapak Jusuf Kalla, Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia,
Our honorable guest, Sir Nicholas Stern,
Excellencies, Ministers, Ambassadors,
Chief of Universities, Head the State Owned and Enterprises,

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good afternoon to you all, and thank you for coming to Bogor Palace, which is a very historic Presidential Palace in one of the Southeast Asia’s most prominent botanic gardens, and which also happens to be my favorite Presidential Palace.

I think the novelist Tolkien, who wrote the world famous trilogy “Lord of the Rings,” was right when he pointed out that in the end, it is the trees who will save humanity and salvage our planet.

Tolkien illustrated, long before environmental issues became prominent, that it is the alliance of humanity and the green forest--and of course helped by the Hobbits, the Elves, and the Dwarves--that would secure the future of the world and the prevalence of good over evil. And one key character in the Lord of the Ring trilogy was Gandalf the Gray, who warned everybody about the imminent dangers faced by humanity.

Well, today we have another sort of Gandalf the Gray in our midst. He doesn’t carry a magic cane, but his credibility comes from his very extensive knowledge and loud warning about the issue of climate change, which today has become everybody’s business.

Sir Nicholas Stern, our special guest today, has produced what is widely known as the Stern Report, which is a highly extensive study and analysis on the economics of climate change.

A few weeks ago, I asked my staff to download the Stern Report because I thought I could read it during my lunch break or on my way to my office. Of course, this became problematic when my staff printed the Report which turned out to be over 700 pages long. And my lunch break is not that long. So while I have read the general thrust of the Report, I am very glad Ladies and Gentlemen, that Sir Nicholas Stern has managed to visit us in Indonesia to explain in greater detail of his Report, without actually reading to us the 700-page Report.

Your visit here, Sir Nicholas Stern, is very timely. As all of us in this room know, we in Indonesia have had first hand and very real experience with the issue of climate change. In recent years, we have seen more rain, more floods, and more severe drought brought about by El Nino, rising sea levels, raging tidal waves.

What Indonesians need to understand is that these natural problems is not unique to Indonesia, is not unique to us and it is not related to any mystical phenomenon. It is in fact part of a very fundamental and complex global phenomenon, which are caused by man-made factors. The symptoms of climate change are being felt in the Americas, in Europe, in Africa, in South Asia, in East Asia, in Southeast Asia, in the Pacific Islands--no place is spared from it.

And what Indonesians and global citizens must also realize is that history has made it perfectly clear that whenever the climate changes, human civilizations also change. It affects patterns of migration, patterns of production, our food production, living patterns, social behavior, and also conflict patterns. And there is no question that the current climate change that we are facing, which is faster and more serious than anything seen before in the history of human civilization, will definitely affect the course of human civilization.

But what has been done by man, it might you, can also be undone by man--and I hope in saying that I am not engaging in wishful thinking. But for man to begin controlling the process of climate change, it will require an all-out effort and a long-term commitment, furnished by political will and commensurate resources to back them up.

Nations must work together; governments must coordinate their policies; companies must do their part and adjust their business-as-usual behavior; international organizations must also play an active role; communities the world over must be on board; and individuals must also be part of the overall solution.

This is so because climate change ultimately is a global problem--perhaps the most serious global problem of all--and to address it we need global solution and global action. I therefore very much appreciate this opportunity to have this discussion session with Sir Nicholas Stern.

His work is significant not just in terms of his extensive analysis of the climate change problem, but also in terms of the policy accommodations that he produces. Of course, for us in the government, there is nothing we like better than concrete policy ideas, as we have little time for academic theorizing.

Indonesia will have the honor to host the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in December of this year to be held in Denpasar, Bali. We will do all we can to ensure the success of the conference and make it a milestone event in the global efforts to produce a constructive and effective policy worldwide to reduce gas emission. And I am sure we will all benefit from the insights and perspectives that we are about to hear from Sir Nicholas Stern.

Once again, thank you very much for being here with us. And now, I will give the floor again to Minister Boediono who will moderate our session today.

I thank you very much.


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