Scientist at Center of Climate Change

Climate change is a complex issue and it takes a lot to understand its impact on the environment. As a scientist, Edvin Aldrian has been involved in dealing with the complexities of climate change for years.

KOMPAS/BRIGITTA ISWORO LAKSMI

Edvin Aldrian

Climate change is a complex issue and it takes a lot to understand its impact on the environment. As a scientist, Edvin Aldrian, 48, has been involved in dealing with the complexities of climate change for years. Now, he is one of few Indonesian scientists who have entered the international stage.

Using meteorology, climatology and biology approaches are now no longer enough to deal with climate change. If we want to find a solution to solve the broad impact of climate change, we need social, legal and political support. The sciences are very important in the negotiation process to reach a global agreement.

Edvin Aldrian is one of the pioneering scientists who are directly engaged in the complexities of climate change issues. He deals with the issue of complete climate change with the socio-political problems. Edvin is a board member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). On Oct. 8, 2015, he became the vice chairman of the IPCC Working Group I in the Bureau for Assessment Report (AR) 6. The AR 6 result will be completed by mid-2022.

Edvin has also served as the co-chairman of the WMO Commission for Climatology (CCl) Expert Team on Institutional and Infrastructural Capabilities (ET-IIC) since 2014. In the Asia-Pacific region, he is the co-vice chairman of the WMO Regional Association V Working Group on Climate Services (WMO RA V WG-CLS), 2014-2018.

As an Indonesian scientist, who is now known internationally, he said his peers lacked courage. "They fear that the domestic issue will be too local for international journals. In fact, with the creativity they have, it will trigger diverse thoughts," said Edvin.

According to him, researchers often do not realize that local issues are very close to the main issues that have come to the world\'s attention.

Edvin writes about everything, which he called weird, ranging from forest fires, rice, the sea, to modeling. "I\'m not afraid to talk about things that I don’t specialize in. Reluctant writers feel that they are not creative enough to write something down," he said.

The IPCC is now preparing a report on the increase in the earth\'s temperature by 1.5 degrees Celsius, as requested by countries at the 2015 Climate Change Conference in Paris. In addition, a report will be prepared on climate change’s impact on the sea and the mainland over the next 18 months.

The report is a portrait of the current state of the earth that has suffered from climate change. It will be the first stocktaking of the various conditions of the earth according to the Paris Agreement.

The agreement targets emission reductions to enable global temperature to stay below 2 degrees Celsius from pre-Industrial Revolution temperatures or to halt it at 1.5 degrees Celsius.

One crucial issue is climate change and the city because more than 50 percent of the world\'s population live in cities. With an energy-intensive urban lifestyle, urbanites are the largest contributor to emissions from transportation and a lifestyle that depend on industrial products.

A special topic on Climate Change and the City will be discussed in Edmonton, Canada, next month, involving 300 cities worldwide.

Kompas/Brigitta Isworo Laksmi

Edvin Aldrian

The third largest emitter

Edvin\'s involvement with climate change began 11 years ago when Wetland International called Indonesia the world\'s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs) due to peat fires. Incidentally, Edvin and Bambang Setiadi, a tropical peat expert, wrote a scientific paper on peat.

Edvin eventually became Indonesia’s “spokesperson” on peat fires. He explained that initial assumptions and different methods and modeling in study would bring different results. With that explanation, the issue can be overcome and new understanding will emerge.

Edvin\'s hard work paid off when he was informed earlier this year that the work of eight Indonesian scientists would be used by the IPCC as the material for global reporting. The door is wide open to the man who is always hungry for a challenge. He was often involved in various climate and meteorological meetings and conferences. He practiced to read fast, think fast, and took a position quickly. As a newcomer, he entered a member of the drafting team of the Indonesian delegation.

Furthermore, his works in various global meteorological issues are unstoppable. He was one the initiators of the Manado Declaration at the 2009 World Ocean Conference. From 2009 to 2015, he became one of the writers of the Ascendment Report (AR) IPCC and one of the IPCC experts assigned to give an opinion or assessment on hundreds of papers written by experts from all over the world. He contributions bridge the scientific reports of experts at the IPCC to political policies in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

"The findings should be supported by something that is operational at the lower level, such as health services and water availability. We formulate it," he said.

Edvin added that Indonesia\'s position on the issue of climate change was very central.

"Indonesia is located in a tropical area that has become the place of atmospheric circulation. The tropical area affects the north, south, west and east.

“Moreover, Indonesia is a continent-maritime (island) system where the convection system (atmospheric dynamics of air in the atmosphere) in the area is the most active, affecting the energy and air supply that are essential for rotation in the (global) atmospheric system. Indonesia is one of the engines of the climate."

The other tropical regions are Africa and the Amazon. Both are also located on the equator. "The interaction of sea-mainland here (Indonesia) is higher than in those two regions although they equal at the equator," said Edvin.

The implications of that position, he added, were to always keep the air clean, meaning low GHG emissions by saving forests. At climate negotiations, Indonesia\'s unique position, according to Edvin, had not been optimally utilized.

He believes that being a scientist in Indonesia is more useful than being one in a foreign country because Indonesia offers a wide range of opportunities for scientists. In other countries, especially developed ones, the chances are small.

Therefore, he explores creativity to bring Indonesia to the global climate change negotiation table. "Other countries are not represented by their citizens because they lack experts," he said.