The World Bank has included Indonesia on the list of six countries to be involved in the multibillion US-dollar climate change battle, expecting to reduce worldwide emissions regardless of United States President Donald Trump’s harsh rhetoric against the matter.

At a press conference before the Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim stressed that climate change mitigation and adaptation projects would continue to be a priority.

He said Indonesia, China, India, the Philippines, Pakistan and Vietnam would work on the world carbon emission reduction programs through multiple efforts involving the private sector.

Read more: IMF picks Indonesia for climate change legion

Greenpeace Indonesia has staged a protest in front of the US embassy in Jakarta over the decision of President Donald Trump withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change.

“President Trump looks likely to turn away from the impact of climate change with millions of people falling victim of natural disasters such as flooding, drought and extreme weather which have hit many countries including Indonesia,” climate and energy spokesman of Greenpeace Indonesia Didit Haryo said.

Read more: Greenpeace Indonesia protesters target US climate policy ‘disaster’

[MANILA] This year’s Global Landscapes Forum, held mid-May in Jakarta, focused on peatlands, described as “one of the least-understood ecosystems” by Tim Christophersen, senior programme officer for Forests and Climate Change with the UN Environment Programme.

Led by the Centre for International Forestry Research, the Forum, an annual event since 2013, aims to shed light on the importance of peatlands not only for climate change mitigation, but also for community development and livelihoods.

Indonesia’s hosting the 2017 Forum is not surprising. The 2015 forest fires that spread toxic haze across South-east Asia had drawn attention to the country’s vast peatlands exceeded in size only by Brazil’s.

A new global wetlands map suggests that more peatlands exist in the tropics — at least three times more than previously estimated. Developed by scientists from the Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation and Mitigation Programme, the map shows South America housing most of the world’s peat by area and volume.

Wetlands and peatlands play a vital role in climate change management as they store huge amounts of carbon. Knowing where they are located helps protect them against draining for cultivation, an activity which results in the release of vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.

Read more: Conserving one of the least understood ecosystems