Bali rainman seeks to keep climate talks dry

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - As a U.N. conference in Bali seeks ways to slow long-term climate change, a Balinese Hindu rainman has more immediate worries -- shielding the 10,000 delegates from tropical downpours.

I Made Resan, a middle-aged, grey-haired temple servant, provides "traditional rain stopping" services to the luxury hotels on the Nusa Dua beach resort, where participants from 190 nations are meeting from December 3-14.

Since 1992, his formula includes a lavish offering with duck eggs, boiled chicken, tropical fruits, flowers and incense, presented to divine powers at the nearest Hindu temple.

Combined with lots of prayer, that helps "protect the place from any harm, including rain," he said. Tuesday was sunny but there was a brief downpour on Monday, when Resan said he was not on duty.

"The offerings are only a medium, but to move the clouds southwards or northwards, one must have a strong and focused mind, and that requires a healthy physique and balanced state of emotions," Resan told Reuters, sitting on the porch of a small house he shares with two other families.

Resan's parents were coerced into giving up their 5 hectare (12 acre) land to a hotel developer in the 1970s, forcing the family to move the family shrine to the margins of the hotel complex and switch to hotel work from fishing and farming.

Hotels rely on people like Resan to place offerings at the hotel temple and at certain spots around their buildings every morning and afternoon to help keep it safe from harm.

LASERS

"Advanced technologies, such as lasers to break up clouds, are not widely available and even so, I can imagine they can be very expensive," said Nano, manager of the Westin Hotel's convention centre which is hosting the U.N. talks.

"It amazingly works most of the time."

Resan will try to keep the talks dry from Wednesday, when U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and about 130 environment ministers will attend after opening days dominated by bureaucrats.

The talks are trying to agree to launch two years of negotiations on a new global climate pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which sets caps on emissions of greenhouse gases by 36 industrial nations until 2012. The United States is outside Kyoto and developing countries have no 2012 goals.

Thanks to his special skills, received in an apprenticeship to a holy man on the slopes of a volcano during his 20s, Resan was busy in the run-up to the climate conference.

"They called me about seven times in November alone. I've done a few big rituals right before the conference and I am booked to do a big one tomorrow," Resan said. He said there's no price tag to his service, but said he welcomed "contributions".

"There shouldn't be any supernatural disruptions (during the event). I am more concerned about human-induced disruptions, such as violent protests or, let's say, a bomb attack," Resan said.

Multiple bomb attacks, on the island's busiest tourist spots in 2002 and 2005 paralyzed the tourism industry for many months. The attacks, which killed over 200 people were blamed on the regional militant network, Jemaah Islamiah.

"I've prayed and placed offerings to ask for security, but unfortunately I don't have the power to stop a bomb attack," he said.

(Editing by Alister Doyle)