By IANS
Bali (Indonesia) : The balloons towered over 20 feet, almost dwarfing the coconut palms behind. They were in all colours and intricate shapes, meant to represent rainforests. They thanked people around the world who were doing something to save their forests.
Tropical Forest Group (TFG), an international NGO based in Santa Barbara, California, had set up the balloons at the main entrance to the Bali International Convention Centre, where over 10,000 delegates from 187 countries gathered Tuesday for the second day of the Dec 3-14 UN conference on climate change.
Deforestation accounts for about 20 percent of carbon dioxide emissions into the earth’s atmosphere – carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas that is leading to global warming.
“And as the delegates talk here for 12 days, in this period 70 million acres of rainforests will be burnt down throughout the world, ” said Aly Metcalfe of the TFG. “That is why we are so keen to applaud the countries that are saving their rainforests.”
Next to the balloons, there was a list of countries TFG was applauding – Bolivia, Central African Republic, Chile, Congo, Costa Rica, Dominical Republic, DR Congo, Fiji, Gabon, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
A few steps ahead of the balloons, people from a number of Pacific island countries sat under a banner that read – Pacific Under Threat: Action Not Words Now. They had been gathered by the Australian Conservation Foundation, whose Tony Mohr said: “These people are already drowning as the sea level rises due to climate change. There is no more time to talk. We have to act now.”