Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Indonesia Facing Big Problems Due to Global Warming



The Jakarta post reports that Indonesians are already feeling the economic impacts of global warming:

Community development group Kalimajari, which assists seaweed farmers in Nusa Penida, said sea temperatures had increased by between 2 and 3 degrees Celsius in the last two years... (T)he extreme changes in sea conditions had depleted stocks of Euchema seaweed, previously the most profitable species for farmers.

Seaweed production decreased from 500 tons in 2007 to 200 tons in 2008.

Seaweed farming is the main livelihood of people on the two islands...but now they struggle to make ends meet.

The country's presidentially-formed council on climate change predicts that it's only going to get worse:

Armi Susandi from the National Council on Climate Change (DNPI) predicted that by 2100, 115 out of 18,000 islands in Indonesia would be submerged, rendering 800,000 homeless.

The DNPI also forecasted that 287 out of 5,345 square kilometers of Bali would be submerged by 2020. The total submerged area would double to 557 square kilometers by 2080.

"This will cause changes to fishery and agricultural patterns, and will badly influence the tourist sector," Armi said.

Somebody should buy Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) and Rush Limbaugh (R-BS) a one-way plane ticket to one of the villages that's going to be underwater by 2020...
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