Radio Mundo Real

Activists of WALHI – Friends of the Earth Indonesia held on Friday an action inside the official UN Climate Change COP negotiations in Paris, France, to expose the causes of the fires that have been hitting the Asian country in the past months.

The activists warned about the actions of companies in Indonesia, especially those focused on monoculture plantations, and called to regulate their serious violations.

In the past three months, haze from fires raging over forest and peat lands in Kalimantan and Sumatra has harmed 45 million people. The fires have caused 1.6 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2015, said Friends of the Earth International in its website on Friday.

Real World Radio covered the action at the COP in Paris and interviewed one of the participants, Kurniawan Sabar, of WALHI - Friends of the Earth Indonesia. The organization is helping in its country to evacuate vulnerable groups, such as babies and infants, breast-feeding mothers, pregnant women and the elderly, to safety. It is demanding the companies responsible be held accountable and that the financial sector stops funding companies that burn forests and peat lands.

In the interview, Sabar highlighted that 21 people have died as a result of the fires in Indonesia, among them children and infants, and he talked about the causes of these fires and the main culprits.