Indonesian Study Estimates 300K Ton Crops Lost Annually 1992 - 2000 To Climate Change - Reuters

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Millions of poor Indonesians will suffer loss of livelihoods, undermining the government's efforts to fight poverty, the report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said.

The report was launched ahead of the UN climate change talks next week on the tourist island of Bali, where delegates from 189 countries will hammer out a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, a pact against global warming which runs out in 2012.

Shifting weather patterns have made it increasingly difficult for Indonesian farmers to decide when to plant their crops, and erratic droughts and rainfall have led to crop failures, the report said. The report quoted a study by a local research institute which said that Indonesia had lost 300,000 tonnes of crop production every year between 1992-2000, three times the annual loss in the previous decade. Millions of fishermen are facing harsher weather conditions, while dwindling fish stocks affect their income.

Indonesia's 40 million poor, including farmers and fishermen, will be the worst affected due to threats including rising sea levels, prolonged droughts and tropical cyclones, the report said.

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