Howard to save Indonesia's forests?

Last night I heard an amusing news on Metro TV. Mr.Howard, Prime Minister of Australia stated his government is setting up a fund of US$160 millions for the purpose of saving Indonesian forests. I thought I heard wrong but the news report repeated it several times so it's confirmed.

So what's with Mr.Howard's sudden interest towards Indonesia's forest? It's true there is much to be done to save the forests in Indonesia before it's total obliterated by irresponsible and corrupted hands. If you have read my previous post Deforestation, Indonesia's latest record? that should be all clear, actions to save the forest are needed and needed quickly before it's too late.

However Mr.Howard interest in the issue comes from a different angle. Up until recently Mr.Howard didn't care much regarding environmental issues including the main one which is the global warming. That is proven in the past by the fact that Australia along with USA refuse to sign the Kyoto Protocol, regarding reducing carbon dioxide emission. Mr.Bush says that “our economy is more important (than the rest of the planet)” and I guess Mr.Howard must share the same vision.

For anyone who would like to know and understand more regarding global warming, you really need to see the former US vice president Al Gore's documentary movie “An Inconvenient Truth”. The movie which won an Oscar in 2006 for the best documentary movie explains everything about global warming and what needs to be done to stop it. Hopefully Mr.Gore will run again for the president of United States, win and actually do something about the issue.

Back to Mr.Howard, few years back I had a nice chat with an Australian man. I forgot his name but he mentioned that he was a journalist and a really nice person. Anyway the conversation come to the environment issue and he asked me if I knew which country was the highest per capita producer of carbon dioxide? I replied “US”, but he said I was wrong and that the correct answer was in fact Australia. Repeating his word “we are the ones ...” filled with irony. I was surprised to learn that, so no wonder why Australia doesn't want to sign Kyoto Protocol.

So Mr.Howard's interest in saving Indonesia's forest are no other than political. He doesn't really care about the issue, however the recent polling in Australia showed that majority of population (or should I say voters) regard global warming as an important issue, while of course elections are just around the corner. So this is just another effort to get reelected.

What I found really strange is instead of doing something about the global warming issue within Australia, like say issuing new laws to reduce the carbon dioxide emission or measurements to prevent forest fires that now also happen in Australia. No he prefers to save the forests in Indonesia, hey why not in case it doesn't work he can always blame Indonesian government and if that's the price to get reelected definitely.

Saving forests throughout the world including Indonesia is important, stopping the further global warming even more. If we don't start doing something soon than in 50 or so years this planet may not be suitable anymore for any living creature including ourselves. Is that the legacy that we want to leave behind?