The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) warned Wednesday that Indonesia could expect more frequent and severe outbreaks of dengue fever and diarrhea as a result of global warming.
"A recent rise in dengue fever cases during the rainy season in Indonesia may be caused by extreme changes in precipitation patterns and warming temperatures," WWF-Indonesia's program director for climate and energy, Fitrian Ardiansyah told a media gathering Wednesday.
"Bogor in West Java, for instance, recently recorded a significant increase in the number of dengue fever patients, which was previously not the case."
In addition to the impact of global warming on human health in Indonesia, WWF's report, titled Change in Indonesia -Implications for Humans and Nature, shows that climate change has also affected the country's overall water availability, sea levels, biodiversity and ecosystem.
A study conducted by WWF-Indonesia on Lombok Island, for instance, revealed that there was a disturbance to the island's ecosystem and functions, including a significant reduction in the amount of available spring water.
According to WWF-Indonesia's executive director and CEO, Mubariq Ahmad, because climate change's impacts are already noticeable in Indonesia, the country should lead the way in the fight against global warming.
"Indonesia is the fourth most populous nation in the world and home to a staggering amount of biodiversity on this planet. The government must take its role seriously and lead the way," he said.
He said Indonesia had ratified the UN Framework on Climate Change in 1994 and the Kyoto Protocol a decade later.
Indonesia is considered to be one of the countries that are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to high population density, high levels of biodiversity and its 80,000 kilometers of coastline and 17,500 islands.
Meanwhile, the Environment Ministry released earlier on Wednesday the results of this year's monitoring and evaluation of automobile gasoline and diesel fuel quality in 30 Indonesian cities, including Ambon, Manado and Jayapura.
The evaluation reported, among other things, a slight decrease in the overall lead content in fuel, from 0.038 grams per liter last year to 0.00385 grams per liter this year.
Further, the average research octane number (RON) rating was reported at 88.74 and 90.76 at the maximum, which fulfills the RON rating of 88 set by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.
The octane number assigned to a motor fuel is a measure of its ability to burn in the combustion chamber. The lower the octane number, the more easily the gasoline ignites.
The report also revealed a general increase of sulfur in diesel fuel, with some cities scoring over the 3,500-ppm level
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