Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Jakarta flooding blamed on global warming

A deputy minister for the environment for the Indonesian government has claimed that global warming is the cause of floods that have submerged huge areas in Jakarta and its surroundings since last week have killed 50 people and displaced hundreds of thousands: :::[SMH]

"It's a natural phenomenon affected by climate change. It's been made worse by negligent behaviour," said Masnellyarty Hilman, a deputy environment minister in charge of drafting a national strategy to deal with climate change.

She said warmer seas had heated up monsoon winds that carry moisture from the ocean to the land, leading to extra heavy rain.

"According the meteorology agency, rainfall was at up to 250 millimetres on Thursday and Friday. It was an extreme phenomenon."

Indonesia is developing a strategy to deal with climate change and will submit the draft to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) this month.

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