INDONESIA AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Indonesia is predicted to experience temperature increases of around 0.8°C by 2030 on 1990 records. According to Arne Witt, invasives coordinator for the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International, this will bring associated changes in rainfall patterns, with the rainy season shortening and projected to end earlier. It’s also predicted that climate change will contribute to an increase in extreme-weather events, which will contribute to increased land degradation and disturbance. In 2019, Indonesia experienced 3,622 natural disasters – about 90 per cent were caused by hydro-meteorological phenomena such as tornadoes, flooding and landslides. ‘These severe weather events will create conditions suitable for the establishment and subsequent spread of invasive species,’ says Witt. For a historical reference point he cites the extensive fires in West Africa in the 1980s during extremely dry years, which contributed to the proliferation of invasive species such as the paper mulberry, a flowering plant that took advantage of an increase in the size of forest gaps and reduced competition from native species. In Indonesia, some invasive plants, such as Chromolaena odorata, have high levels of oil in their dry, pithy stems and leaves, and as a result rapidly spread fire. ‘Chromolaena has an ability to invade forest edges and gaps, which results in fires being carried deep into relatively undisturbed forests and woodlands, further depleting native biodiversity,’ says Witt.