Pekanbaru (ANTARA News) - British minister of energy and climate change Joan Ruddock said his visit to a peatland area in the Sumatran province of Riau was not connected with the recent Greenpeace action in the region.

"No. It has nothing to do with the Greenpeace action . This has been planned for the last couple of months," he told newsmen here on Monday after visiting the peatland area in Langgam subdistrict in Pelalawan, Riau.

He said Indonesia is one of many countries that he would visit ahead of the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark, next month.

As a member of the international community he also wished to observe directly the condition of the forests and their damage in the world that had caused climate change.

While here Ruddock, in the company of British ambassador to Indonesia Martin Hatfull, also held a meeting with environmental activists from local as well as international non-governmental organizations.

The closed-door meeting with the activists lasted more than two hours. "We also listened to non-governmental organizations regarding tree felling and what they have done to reduce destruction involving the local community," he said.

Last week dozens of Greenpeace activists sealed the heavy equipment of PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper to protest against the planned conversion of a peatland area in Semenanjung Kampar into an acacia forest by the company.

As a result, 11 foreign activists were deported while 21 other local activists have been named criminal suspects.(*)