JAKARTA (AFP) –
Presidential hopefuls vying for Indonesia's top job next week are ignoring the environment, despite dire threats from global warming and deforestation, environmental group Greenpeace has said.

None of the three candidates has made the environment a priority in their campaigns or offered any detailed policies on issues such as deforestation or carbon emissions, Greenpeace climate campaigner Arif Fiyanto said.

"Up to now we haven't seen anything concrete from the three pairs of candidates," Fiyanto said.

Rampant deforestation fuelled by corruption and poor law enforcement has made Indonesia the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases behind the United States and China.

Greenpeace activists said the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had paid little more than pay lip service to environmental problems over its five years in power.

"Environmental problems aren't sexy in the election, indeed ... we've never had a government that has paid attention to the environment," forest campaigner Joko Arif said.

"They're talking about poverty, they're talking about benefits for the community, but if they don't talk about environmental problems it's complete (rubbish)," he added.

Yudhoyono is the strong favourite to win the July 8 poll, which will pit him against ex-president Megawati Sukarnoputri and current Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Megawati has agreed to a Greenpeace demand for a moratorium on deforestation, but has also promised to open millions of hectares (acres) of land for farming and biofuel plantations, Arif said.

Indonesia has been a key advocate of a scheme to get big polluters in rich countries to pay for forest conservation in developing countries.

But Greenpeace fears the plan could trigger a collapse in global carbon prices and undermine broader efforts to fight climate change.