Indonesia Drowning....?

This from the Indonesian Enviroment Minister last week.

Rising sea levels because of global warming stand to inundate around 2,000 islands in Indonesia by 2030, the country's environment minister said Monday.

The assessment by Rachmat Witoelar was the government's bleakest yet of the effects of global warming on the Southeast Asian nation that is made up of some 18,000 islands, most of them unpopulated.

The announcement has generated 60 some news stories according to Google News, one of which turns up this little nugget...

Indonesia wants rich countries to pay developing nations to preserve their forests, which are vital to help remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, the country's environment minister said on Tuesday.

The proposal will be tabled at a UN conference on climate change to be held in the Indonesian resort island of Bali in December, Rachmat Witoelar said.

"Preserving our forest means we can't exploit it for our economic benefits. We can't build roads or mines," Witoelar said. "But we make an important contribution to the world by providing oxygen. Therefore countries like Indonesia and Brazil should be compensated by developed countries for preserving their resources," he said.

So essentially their shaking down the West. Shaking us down to pay them not to do the things they say are going to make them drown.