Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Indonesia's losses could reach 544 trillion rupiahs (some 37.7 billion U.S. dollars) by 2024 due to climate change, an official has said.

"The projection of climate change in Indonesia is somewhat unfavorable because global changes will also have consequences for Indonesia," the Director of the Environment of the Indonesian Ministry of National Development Planning, Medrilzam, said at a webinar on the Green Economy Transition on Thursday (Jan. 6).

He noted that an increase in the earth's temperature could cause high waves, threating people on the coast vulnerable to disasters.

In addition, changes in the earth's temperature also cause such extreme weathers as heavy rainfalls and droughts, floods, landslides, and forest fires.

"These conditions will certainly have an impact on the agricultural productivity such as declining in rice production, and others," Medrilzam said, adding that climate change in the agricultural sector has the potential to cause losses of up to 78 trillion rupiahs (some 5.4 billion dollars) by 2024.

Meanwhile, the loss of climate change on the marine sector could reach 408 trillion rupiahs (about 28.3 billion dollars) by 2024 due to La Nina that has been very influential in the last five years.

The water sector is also estimated to suffer a loss of 24 trillion rupiahs (about 1.6 billion dollars) by 2024 due to the climate change, while the health sector is predicted to cost 31 trillion rupiahs (about 2.1 billion dollars).

The Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) recorded that almost 99 percent of natural disasters that occurred in the archipelagic country in 2020 were related to hydrometeorology (natural factors), Medrilzam said.

"Other disasters such as tectonic and volcanic (quakes) incur (relatively) small costs," he said.

Reporting by Indonesia Window