RI Gets Int`l Support For Its Climate Change Fight by Fardah

     Jakarta, April 20, 2010 (ANTARA News) - Indonesia, home of the world`s third largest forest area after Brazil and Zaire, has received support from several countries for its efforts to preserve some of the `Earth`s lungs`.
     "Bilateral cooperation in forest preservation with a number of other countries has been smooth. A while ago, I received delegations from 15 countries including Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, France, Iran and Algeria," Environment Minister Gusti M Hatta told ANTARA on the sidelines of a global environment ministerial-level meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali Province, last February 2010.

      Indonesia is one of the first developing nations to have pledged a voluntary CO2 emissions cut by 26 percent by 2020 using funds from its own state budget, and by 41 percent, if developed nations give financial support for the purpose. The commitment was announced at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh (USA) by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last September 2009.
     Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said recently the forestry sector would be a net sinker capable of absorbing up to 0.89 giga tons of CO2 by 2020.
     The sector`s capability will contribute to efforts to reduce gas emissions by 14 percent out of a total of 26 percent in 2020, he said.
    Based on a 2010-2020 strategic plan, including replanting on 500,000 hectares of land a year, the forestry sector will have the potential to become a sector that could absorb carbon of up to 1.31 giga tons, the minister said last March, after launching Demonstration Activities (DA) - the Reducing Emission Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) in Indonesia.

The problem is, he said, a total of Rp18.6 trillion will be needed a year to carry out the plan.

The head of the forestry ministry`s research and development, Tachir Fathoni, said Indonesia`s plan to plant one billion trees in 2010 would be put into a REDD Plus scheme made ready to replace the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) program in 2012.

"The program of planting minimally one billion trees will be one of the main supporters of tree planting as part of the forestry activity to support gas emission reduction and is included in the REDD Plus scheme," he said.

He said the DA-REDD in a number of regions was the basis for the understanding and agreement on the REDD mechanism in Indonesia. "We are preparing REDD with DA (demonstration activities) in among others Jambi, East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and East Java with a hope they would be accepted as an international mechanism for dealing with climate change to replace the CDM produced by the Kyoto Protocol for 2012," he said.

In connection with preparing the DA-REDD, the director general of forestry production supervision, Hadi Daryanti, said Indonesia received an aid from the Australian government that had allocated Aus$40 million for the mitigation funding, and would increase its commitment by Aus$30 million until 2012.

Other countries supporting gas emission reduction efforts in the country and sustainable forest management are Germany through GTZ totaling 3.5 million euros for three years and through KfW 20 million euros for seven years, Norway through the UN-REDD scheme totaling US$5.64 million for 20 months and TNC totaling 50 to 100 million US dollars, ITTO-Japan US$900 million for 2009-2013, and South Korea US$5 million for 2009-2012.

Last March, Indonesian Ambassador to Germany Eddy Pratomo lauded Germany for its support to help save and protect the tropical rain forests in Sumatra.
The ambassador expressed his appreciation in a meeting with officials of the German Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the German Development Bank (KfW) and the President of the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU).

The meeting was a follow up to the launch of German grant worth 7.5 million euros for the Harapan Rainforest project in Jambi and South Sumatra provinces. The grant is part of the International Climate Initiative (ICI) program launched by BMU.

So far, six cooperation projects carried out by the Indonesian government and the German ministry under the ICI scheme had been running well, including the development of biodiversity-based sustainable tourism at Pangandaran in Kalimantan, preparatory measures for avoided deforestation, coral triangle initiative and carbon-financed forest management.

Another important supporting country is Norway. At a UN-REDD inception workshop held late March this year, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan commended the Norwegian government for taking action as a donor to the UN-REDD program in which Indonesia among a number of countries received the largest amount of assistance.

"Norway has been very concerned about forests in Indonesia from the beginning. They even have helped reforestation efforts in Jambi and Sulawesi. They are also funding the environmental NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) CIFOR in Bogor," he said.
The minister said the total amount of aid prepared by the Norwegian government for reforestation activity was around 30 million US dollars.

Norwegian Ambassador to Indonesia Eivind S Homme told the workshops participants that "Indonesia is a part of a global solution in mitigating the effects of climate change."

The ambassador said that Indonesia could take maximum benefit from the REDD that is funded by the government of Norway which provides 5.6 million U.S. dollars for the program for a 2009-2011 period.

Indonesian forest area at present reaches 130 million hectares, and 40 million of them are in a good primary condition, 45 million hectares are critically damaged, and the remaining 45 million hectares had no planted trees, according to the forestry minister
To preserve the remaining forests, Indonesia must prevent illegal logging, forest fires, forest encroachment, and must do massive forest replanting by involving the people, the minister said.

Last January 2010, Indonesia and the United States government discussed a second debt-for-nature agreement under the US Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA) to finance tropical forest conservation.

The TFCA authorized reduction and re-direction of certain debt to support tropical forest conservation in eligible development countries.
It said the US Treasury Department had provisionally set aside over US$19 million for the treatment of eligible debt.

"This is an important symbol of our partnership with Indonesia on issues of climate change and the environment. It is a practical way we can work together to protect critical forests and mitigate climate change," US Ambassador to Indonesia Cameron R. Hume said.

The first TFCA agreement, signed on June 30, 2009, would reduce Indonesia`s debt payments to the U.S. by nearly US$30 million over eight years.
In return, the Government of Indonesia will commit these funds to support grants to protect and restore tropical forests in Sumatra.

The agreement was the largest debt-for-nature swap under the TFCA thus far and was made possible through contributions of US$20 million by the US Government and a combined donation of US$2 million from Conservation International and the Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation (Yayasan Keanekaragaman Hayati Indonesia, or KEHATI).
Australia, Indonesia`s immediate neighbor, has also been supporting Indonesia in the environmental preservation efforts.

In early March 2010, the Indonesian and Australian governments set up a Forest Carbon Partnership in Sumatra worth 30 million Australian dollars to reduce green house gas emissions due to deforestation and forest degradation.

This partnership activity in Sumatra will deal with urgent threats to mineral-rich forests such as in Jambi province, which covers a total of 5.3 million hectares, and one third of which consisted of forested land.

Indonesia also secured supports in climate change mitigation efforts from a number of countries through bilateral meetings organized on the sidelines of the Copenhagen climate change summit at the end of 2009, according to Indonesian delegation chief Rachmat Witoelar .

"The pledges for support are very significant as the funds are huge," Witoelar, former environment minister, said in Copenhagen, Denmark, late last year.
Britain, Norway, and the US, for example, have stated their willingness to provide financial support in an effort to reduce emissions from deforestation. Germany, has agreed to help Indonesia preserve its forests through technical assistance, while New Zealand will develop a global partnership in climate change research in the field of agriculture.

Other countries committing to deals with Indonesia in terms of climate change mitigation include Australia, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland, he said.

Climate change threat is massive and global. "We live on the same boat, if the boat develops a leak, we all will be drowned," former Indonesian environmental minister Emil Salim once said when describing the consequence of a possible environmental destruction. (*)