Climate Change in the Indonesian Mind

Faculty

Anthony Leiserowitz Senior Research Scientist, Lecturer, and Director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC)

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Indonesia is among the world’s top 10 greenhouse gas emitters, with most of those emissions stemming from land use, mainly deforestation and the clearance of carbon-rich peatlands for agriculture, often for palm oil plantations. However, 76% of Indonesians surveyed by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC) say they know “a little” about global warming (55%) while 20% “have never heard of it,”  according to the newly released study, “Climate Change in the Indonesian Mind,” by YPCCC in partnership with Development Dialogue Asia, Communication for Change, and Kantar Indonesia.

“I was surprised that a majority of people in Indonesia knew so little about climate change. This indicates that that basic climate literacy remains quite low in this incredibly important and vulnerable country. That said, many are aware that their local weather patterns are changing. But they lack the concept of climate change to understand why these changes are happening.” says YPCCC Director and Yale School of Environment Senior Research Scientist Anthony Leiserowitz.

Indonesia, home to more than 275 million people, is the fourth most populous country in the world. It is also one of the largest global producers of coal, and is the largest gas supplier in Southeast Asia. In 2022, Indonesia presented plans to the United Nations to further prioritize the development of clean energy sources and to cut emissions by about 32% on its own or by 43% with international support, exceeding the goals set by the Paris  Agreement.

With large populations living on its coasts, its communities are especially vulnerable to the impacts of flooding and sea-level rise. Its capital, Jakarta, has been ranked the world’s most vulnerable city to environmental threats. According to the study, the majority of Indonesians think global warming will cause either “a great deal” or “a moderate amount” of harm to plant and animal species (73%), people in Indonesia (72%), future generations of people (72%), people in their community (67%), their family (66%), or themselves personally (64%).

The study, conducted from June to July 2021, surveyed 3,490 Indonesian adults to investigate how the public views global warming, deforestation, and Indigenous land rights.  

Among the other key findings of the report:

• After reading a short definition of global warming, 63% think global warming is happening;
• 29% think that global warming is happening and caused mostly by human activities, while 23% think it is happening and caused more or less equally by human activities and natural changes in the environment. Only 8% think global warming is happening and caused mostly by natural changes in the environment;
• 33% think people in Indonesia are already being harmed by global warming;
• 40% of people in Indonesia say cutting down a bigger area of the forest in Indonesia is never justified. However, the majority of Indonesians (60%) say cutting down a bigger area of the forest is justified if it is for building public infrastructure (32%), lifts more people out of poverty (17%), increases people’s income (15%), opens more jobs (14%), and/or increases the state’s revenue (4%);
• People in Indonesia most frequently say that floods (71%), landslides (68%), and loss of water reserves (46%) are their top three worries about deforestation.

“While understanding of climate change remains relatively low, a large majority (79%) of Indonesians are worried about deforestation, and a plurality (40%) say that it is never justified to cut down bigger areas of the forest in the country,” Leiserowitz said.