Rich countries pledge $4B to stop deforestation

AP/Google, By IAN MacDOUGALL (AP)

Britain's Prince Charles , the Prince of Wales, together with environmental activist and Nobel Price winner Wangari Maatha, at the International conference on climate and deforestation is held in Oslo, Wednesday, May 26 2010. (AP Photo / Gorm Kallestad / SCANPIX Norway)

OSLO, Norway — Developed nations pledged more than $4 billion Thursday to finance a program meant to help poor countries protect their forests and slow global warming.

An agency monitoring the aid will be up and running before U.N. climate talks start in Cancun, Mexico, later this year, the European Union's climate commissioner said at a conference on deforestation in Oslo.

Also, Indonesia agreed to a two-year moratorium on issuing new permits for forest destruction as part of a $1 billion deal with Norway that would pay Indonesia a fixed sum per ton of CO2 emissions reduced through rain forest preservation. Norway has had a similar deal with Brazil since the mid-1990s.

Deforestation, the burning of woodlands or the rotting of felled trees, is thought to account for up to 20 percent of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere — as much as is emitted by all the world's cars, trucks, trains, planes and ships combined.

The new program — called REDD Plus, for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation — will encourage rich nations to voluntarily finance forest-protecting projects while coordinating that aid to avoid waste and ensure transparency.

It was approved — but not implemented — at the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.

In Oslo, Germany, France, Norway, the U.S., Britain, Australia and Japan pledged $4 billion to finance REDD Plus through 2012, with Denmark and Sweden adding $73 million more to the effort on Thursday.

The new monitoring agency would oversee individual agreements between countries to fight deforestation and educate local populations who live off forests — estimated at more than 1 billion worldwide — to do so in a sustainable way.

EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard said the new agency, and a comprehensive database that will help streamline aid combating deforestation, were tangible results that would build momentum in climate talks ahead of the Cancun summit.

Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the new agency would "decrease a trust deficit" that has stymied progress in wider climate talks, as wealthy countries express concern about how aid money is used in poor nations.

"Forests are worth more dead than alive. Today we commit to change that equation," said Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who was co-chairing the conference with the Indonesia president.

A political agreement at the U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen last year called for warming to be kept from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by 2020 — which scientists say could trigger a climate catastrophe. But the Copenhagen conference disappointed many in failing to produce a legally binding deal for countries to limit emissions.

Thursday's meeting was the last on REDD Plus planned before Cancun, with work now starting on establishing the agency's infrastructure.

Britain's Prince Charles agreed that transparency was key in brokering a binding global climate agreement.

"In this period of increased stringency, governments will need to know that every dollar made available will be spent wisely in order to avoid any unnecessary duplication," he said in a speech.

While the $4 billion is only two-thirds of the $6 billion Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc said he hoped would be in place by the Oslo conference, environmentalists said it was a good start for the fledgling program.

"For early phases, the kind of money we're talking about is probably sufficient," said Mark Tercek, the head of U.S. conservation group the Nature Conservancy.

Greenpeace welcomed the pledges of financing but warned that it remains unclear how the funds will be spent.

The funding so far comes exclusively from government budgets, and Stoltenberg called for "voluntary contributions" from private sector and industry players. He also said that ultimately "the most important source of money will be carbon pricing" — from carbon trading and carbon taxation schemes.

About 32 million acres (13 million hectares) of forests are cut down each year — an area about the size of England or New York state — and the emissions generated are comparable to those of China and the United States, according to the independent U.K. Eliasch Review on forest loss.

Associated Press writers Malin Rising in Stockholm and Jan Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.

President of Indonesia, Susilo Yudhoyono, speaks during Oslo Climate and Forest Conference in Oslo, Norway, Thursday May 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Hakon Mosvold Larsen, Scanpix)

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President: Indonesia serious about managing its forests

RI committed to rainforests protection despite financial constraints

Aditya Suharmoko, The Jakarta Post, Oslo | Thu, 05/27/2010 4:06 PM

Climate talks: Indonesian President Susilo Yudhoyono (left) and Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg speak at press conference during the Oslo Climate and Forest Conference in Oslo, Norway, Thursday. The conference was attended by 50 heads of state and environment ministers. –AP/Hakon Mosvold Larsen

Cash-strapped Indonesia remains committed to protection of its rainforests as part of the global initiative to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) Plus scheme, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says.

"Working with our developed country partners, we will protect Indonesia’s globally significant carbon- and biodiversity-rich tropical rainforests while helping local populations become more prosperous," Yudhoyono said Thursday in a speech during the opening session of the Oslo Climate and Forest Conference at Holmenkollen Park Hotel Rica in the surrounding hills of Oslo.

The President's statement affirmed his pledge on Wednesday night that Indonesia "would conduct a moratorium for two years where we stop the conversion of peat land and of forests" during a historical agreement signing with Norway, which provides a US$1 billion grant for Indonesia in phases to protect the Southeast Asian nation's forests.

Yudhoyono also said Indonesia would preserve its forests "with or without international help".

But having financial limitations, Yudhoyono expected the REDD Plus scheme to be pushed forward.

"Cancun (meeting in Mexico) must produce a robust and workable decision. In this regard, a decision on REDD Plus could bring about the immediate action that we need to take," he said in the speech.

Indonesia still has a 14.15 percent poverty rate of about 230 million people in population, based on latest data released by the Central Statistics Agency.

In Indonesia, forest areas of a size equaling 300 soccer fields vanish every hour, according to Greenpeace.

Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said based on a March's international conference in Paris about 54 countries agreed to provide $4 billion in commitment to take necessary actions to protect the world's largest rainforests located in Brazil and Indonesia, which function as global "lungs" to transform carbon dioxide into oxygen.

"In today's market forests are more worth dead than alive. We want to change that ... There will be more (incentives) in leaving (them) than cut," he said.

He added that all developing countries should be in the driver's seat to reach the global goals with the help of multilateral institutions like the United Nations and the World Bank.

In his speech at the same forum, Britain’s Prince Charles said the time available to turn the words into actions was "running out". He also praised the agreement signed by Indonesia and Norway.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said he would look forward to a successful outcome in the next meeting in Cancun.

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Community networks key to forest reform

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 03/24/2010 6:01 PM

Communities linked to their own networks and organizations have the best chance of success in community forestry, a research finds.

The three-year research project, conducted by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), assessed 30 sites in 10 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

“The research focused on communities that had fought for or been granted new statutory rights,” Anne Larson, senior associate at CIFOR said.

The findings were published in a book, Forest for People: Community Rights Forest Tenure Reform, which was launched on Wednesday.

“We aimed at identifying issues and concerns from the perspective of socially and economically vulnerable groups that were seeking tenure reforms,” she said.

Tenure reforms – a change in tenure rights in forested areas – represent a forest reform comparable to widespread agrarian reforms of the mid 20th century.

Although the world’s forests are still primarily public land, more than a quarter of forests in developing countries are now owned by or assigned to communities.

It said that tenure was particularly important in light of the ongoing negotiations on REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation).

For REDD schemes to be successful, clear ownership of forest resources and carbon pools needs to be established so that payments for carbon sequestration can be made. Without having secure rights and clear ownership over carbon pools, communities and indigenous groups may not be able to claim benefits from REDD schemes, and may even be dispossessed.

This would be to the detriment of efforts both to mitigate climate change and to ensure equity, Anne said.

Int'l forest experts to meet in Bali to discuss sustainable forest system

Adianto P. Simamora , The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 11/27/2009 9:45 PM

Experts from ten nations are slated to meet in Bali next week to show how to shift power over forests into the hands of able custodians who can promote and pursue sustainable forest-based livelihoods.

The forest governance learning group (FGLG) meeting to be held from Dec.1 to Dec. 4 will be attended by forest experts including from Cameroon, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Vietnam.

The meeting was organized by the UK-based researchers from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

“Who gets to decide what about forests is vitally important,” says James Mayers, head of the natural resources group at IIED.

“It can mean the difference between corrupt elites wielding their power to exclude poor people, or it can mean equitable forest management that brings sustainable benefits to all."

Forests will be central to the UN climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December as deforestation produces about 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions.

In Copenhagen, governments are set to agree a global deal called REDD that would see billions of dollars flowing as compensation to forest countries that leave their trees standing.

“Good governance of forests will be essential to maximize the social and environmental benefits of REDD schemes,” Mayers said.

Clinton, UN praise RI role in global climate talks

Adianto P. Simamora and Erwida Maulida, THE JAKARTA POST, JAKARTA | Fri, 02/20/2009 9:23 AM  

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lauded Indonesia for its role in global climate talks to outlining a road map for emission cuts target. 

The praise was made during her meeting Thursday with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta. 

Clinton eulogized Indonesia’s success in hosting the Bali climate change talks, initiating a forestry forum and a coral triangle concept as efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions to tackle global warming. 

During the meeting, President Yudhoyono asked the US to take the lead in creating a global consensus at the climate change conference to be held in Copenhagen later this year. 

“The President said the new global consensus could not possibly be reached without US leadership, especially with the country being the biggest carbon emitter,” presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal told reporters after the meeting. 

In what many hailed as a breakthrough, the US delegation agreed to go along with the Bali road map during the 2007 climate change conference in Bali. 

The Bali road map orders members of the climate conference to set new binding emissions cut targets to replace the Kyoto Protocol. The protocol requires developed nations to cut their emissions by 5 percent by 2012. 

The United States previously rejected the protocol’s binding targets. 

Indonesia also initiated the establishment of the forestry eleven forum (F-11) consisting of forestry countries pushing the world to “pay” for emissions absorbed by member states’ forests.

 

The Bali talks also adopted the reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) concept to provide financial incentives to countries that protected their forests.

 

In addition, Indonesia also initiated the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), aimed at halting the degradation of coral colonies and safeguarding vulnerable marine species from the impacts of global warming.

 

Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste will sign the initiative at the World Ocean Conference (WOC) in Manado, North Sulawesi, in May this year.

 

The US has pledged a grant of US$40 million to protect coral colonies in the region.

 

US President Barack Obama has been invited to attend the launching ceremony of the CTI, to be held on sidelines of the WOC, which runs from May 11-15.

 

Besides the US, the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) also honored Indonesia for its CTI initiative and the first ever WOC, which will be attended by some 10,000 delegates from 140 countries.

 

UNEP executive director Achim Steiner promised to table the WOC results — to be called the Manado Ocean Declaration — at the Copenhagen climate change meeting slated for December.

 

The promise was made during UNEP’s 25th season of Governing Council Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, that ends this Friday.

 

Delegates from 134 countries, including Indonesia, are attending the UNEP meeting.

 

“The 2009 WOC, initiated by Indonesia, has put high awareness on ocean and climate change into UNEP activities,” Steiner said.

 

Indonesian Maritime affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi, who heads the country’s delegation to the UNEP meeting, said in his keynote speech, made available to The Jakarta Post, that the impact of global warming would see many small island states succumb to rising sea levels.

 

He reminded participants that the fallout from climate change would be vastly worse and much more long-lasting than that from the current global financial crisis.

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Discourse: The bright side of the global crisis: Fewer emissions

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post | Mon, 12/01/2008 7:11 AM 

Delegates from 185 countries will attend a two-week UN climate change conference in Poznan, Poland, starting Monday, to create a new regime of emissions cuts as mandated in the Bali road map. The Indonesian delegation, led by State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar, said Indonesia was responsible for ensuring the follow-up of the road map, which was agreed upon during last year’s UN climate change conference in Bali. Rachmat, accompanied by National Council for Climate Change secretary-general Agus Purnomo, talked to The Jakarta Post’s Adianto P. Simamora about the agenda for Poznan.

Question: What progress has been made to follow up on the Bali road map since you started leading the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)?

Answer: The Bali road map is a prestigious achievement in climate change talks and the world respects it. It is a milestone on the road to making a success of the conferences in Poland and in Copenhagen next year.

As the UNFCCC president, assisted by the governing body, I am responsible for protecting the Bali road map in the next climate talks. The governing body consists of ministers from several countries. On Monday, I will hand over my UNFCCC presidency to the environment minister of Poland.

After the Bali conference, we organized a series of intensive meetings including those in Bangkok, Bonn and Accra to draft a “negotiable text” on emissions cuts. The text will be finalized in Poznan before being voted on during the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009. I admit it is not an easy job but there has been positive progress.

At the Accra climate conference, each (participating) country submitted a position paper, including Indonesia. These will be further discussed in Poland.

In general, the thorniest issue is related to future commitments to emissions cuts. We need a concrete target in the mid-term period of between 25 percent and 40 percent rather than the long-term commitment of 50 percent by 2050. If rich nations agree with it, there must be action.

How do you see the commitment of rich nations to dealing with emissions cuts amid the global economic downturn?

The economic crisis actually brings both positive and negative impacts on efforts to combat climate change.

Many companies, including those in the United States — the largest emitter — are suffering from the economic meltdown. Many companies have scaled down their production while others have become bankrupt.

This means there are emissions cuts. It is the positive impact.

In addition, the use of climate-friendly technology such as hybrid cars is also reducing emissions from the transportation sector.

I attended several high-level meetings this year, including one in Hokkaido, Japan, and the recent G-20 meeting. I see leaders of developed nations becoming more afraid of the economic crisis. 

The United States spent a lot of money to bail out its economy. But I am sure the newly elected president Barack Obama will join the new climate regime. We are optimistic.

The bad news is the global financial crisis. Industrialized  nations are short of funds to support capacity-building and climate-resilience programs for developing countries.

But for me, God is fair. For example, Indonesia, which has been accused of being the world’s third largest emitter, is now ranked 24th. It is because of a significant decline in the number of forest fires. There are now fewer forest fires in Indonesia than in Australia.

What are the targets of the Indonesian delegation for the Poznan meeting?

Our vision is to get as many benefits as possible for Indonesia. Our delegation has prepared itself with very detailed position papers for the conference.

We will push agendas of demonstration activities for the reduction emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), voluntary carbon market, adaptation fund, financial mechanism and technology transfers before 2012 when the Kyoto protocol commitment ends.

We plan to have several bilateral meetings to negotiate financial aid bilaterally. I think many countries are ready to help Indonesia finance the mitigation and adaptation of climate change.

Even before the Poznan meeting, we received money and commitments from a few  countries this year, including Australia, Japan, Germany and France. I believe more money will come to Indonesia for climate change after the Poznan conference.

The availability of grants and technical assistance for developing countries is crucial in adapting to climate change.

We are also exploring the possibility of bilateral and multilateral support for technology transfers. The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) and the State Ministry for Research and Technology have been active in coordinating an exercise to complete the needs assessment for technology transfers in the past few years.

A draft report of the technology needs assessment is at the final review stage and will be presented at a side event during the Poznan forum. Among the identified technologies are renewable energy technologies.

Unfortunately, some clean and climate-friendly technologies are a bit more costly than the relatively dirty technology.

Financial and policy incentives are needed for higher adoption and procurement of clean technology.

The international climate negotiations can facilitate development partnerships to promote clean technologies, such as geothermal, wind and solar power generation.

As part of the global solidarity to prevent the worsening of climate change, the Indonesian delegation will also look for opportunities to get clean technology investment for our country.

Time to get serious in the global fight against climate change

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Global attention to climate change issues, including in Indonesia, hit a new high in 2007 after leading climate scientists bombarded the public with a string of reports describing the evidence for human-induced climate change as "unequivocal".

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- the United Nation's global body for assessing scientific knowledge of climate change -- issued four reports regarding the issue and its impacts during 2007.

The first report, in February, covered the climate trend; the second, in April, reported on the world's ability to adapt to warmer planet and the third, in June, revealed strategies for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

The fourth report, officially launched at the climate change conference in Bali in December, asserted that human activities had accelerated global warming over the past 50 years.

It predicted that by 2100, the global temperature could rise by between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees Celsius, compared to the 1990 level, saying such an impact could be "abrupt or irreversible" and no country would be spared.

It said the sea level will rise by at least 18 centimeters, triggering more frequent heatwaves, rainstorms and tropical cyclones.

Small island states and developing economies, where hundreds of millions of people live in low-lying areas, will first experience the devastating effects of rising sea levels.

In addition to the IPCC's report, London-based economist Nicholas Stern published a review of climate change's impacts on the world's economic situation this year.

The Stern review warned that if no action were taken, the overall cost and risks of climate change would be equivalent to losing at least 5 percent of GDP each year.

The final comments came from documentary An Inconvenient Truth by former U.S. vice president Al Gore, for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Since then, thousands of seminars have been held worldwide to discuss the scientific reports and seek ways to combat the severe impacts of climate change and how to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.

Climate issues have been topping the political agenda in developed countries, including the U.S. and Australia.

Kevin Rudd's recent success in the Australian federal election has been put down by many to his promise to take action on climate change. Australia ratified the Kyoto Protocol a few days after Rudd took office as prime minister.

The latest conference on climate change was held in December in Nusa Dua, Bali, where over 10,000 participants from 189 countries gathered for a two-week meeting to invent a formula to cut emissions after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol ends.

The Bali conference, the world's biggest ever conference on the climate change, decided that rich nations should take the lead in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The Bali road map, designed to succeed the first commitment of the Kyoto Protocol, requires rich nations to make deeper cuts to their emissions.

The conference concluded that developing nations experienced the most adverse effects of climate change due to poor and often insufficient infrastructure and a lack of capacity to cope with the consequences.

It said that as the frequency and intensity of drastic weather events were expected to rise, developing nations were expected to suffer the most.

Oxfam International in its Climate Alarm report issued in November said that natural disasters, the vast majority of which are climate-related, have increased more than four-fold in recent decades.

It said flood and windstorm disasters alone have risen six-fold, from about 60 in 1980 to about 240 in 2006.

It also said that Asian floods alone affected about 250 million people in 2007.

The Bali meeting then agreed on several crucial issues mostly benefiting developing countries such as the adaptation fund, technology transfer and reducing emissions from deforestation, known as the REDD program.

The adaptation fund makes small states island and developing nations, including Indonesia, eligible for money to help them adapt to climate change.

The funding, taken from a 2-percent of share of clean development mechanism (CDM) projects, will be managed by the newly set up adaptation fund board, with Mahendra Siregar representing Indonesia.

The board will assess adaptation projects from developing countries before awarding the money.

The CDM is the only mechanism allowing developing countries to host green projects to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The amount of carbon cut can be traded to developed nations who have obligations to slash their emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.

A ton of carbon is currently sold at between $5 and $10.

The Kyoto Protocol now binds 36 developed nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent below their 1990 levels.

Indonesia itself will prioritize projects such as building sea walls and training local farmers on new agricultural techniques to enable to adapt to extreme weather changes.

"We will put priority on areas vulnerable to rising sea levels and educate local farmers on new planting methods," head of the adaptation unit at the environment ministry, Haneda Sri Mulyanto, said.

Extreme weather has caused serious floods, drought and wild fires in Indonesia.

Indonesia is the world's third largest archipelagic country, with 17,500 small islands and a coastline of 81,000 kilometers.

Reports have said that in the last decade, drought has dried over 220,380 hectares of paddy land across the country, causing production losses of 190,000 tons of unhusked rice.

It is also reported that during the same period, floods had also inundated over 158.787 hectares of land with production losses at 174.000 tons of unhusked rice.

A report from the ministry of maritime affairs and fisheries said Indonesia had lost 24 small islands in the last two years due in part to sea level rises aggravated by maritime erosion from illegal mining activities. The lost islands were in Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau and Papua.

A report from the German-based environment research group Germanwatch and insurance firm Munich Reinsurance lists Indonesia as the world's third most effected nation by extreme weather events due to climate change after the Philippines and North Korea, last year. It said there were 21 extreme weather events in Indonesia last year, leaving 1,297 people dead.

Meanwhile, the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) recorded that in the period of 2003 to 2005, there were more than 1,429 disasters related to weather events across the country.

It said the early February floods in Jakarta, which lasted for 22 days, affected thousands of people and destroyed about 1,500 houses.

In terms of REDD, parties to the Bali climate change conference also asserted the urgent need to take meaningful action to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

Countries were asked to support capacity building and to undertake efforts to address the drivers of deforestation, which is regarded as an important component of the future climate change regime beyond 2012.

Environmentalist Fitrian Ardiansyah of the WWF Indonesia praised the REDD scheme as it will significantly reduce emissions from forests, which so far contribute 20 percent of global emissions.

Indonesia has been named as the world's third largest emitter due to its fast deforestation rate and forest fires.

State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said the world should provide financial incentives for Indonesia to protect its forests so as to trap more carbon emissions.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick has promised to raise as much as US$300 million to help developing countries reduce emissions from deforestation.

The Center for International Forestry Research has predicted that developing nations could reap between $2.3 billion and $23 billion per year from avoiding deforestation under the REDD scheme.

The Bali conference also made important progress on the issue of greener technology as part of efforts to mitigate climate change.

Fitrian of the WWF said it was high time for Indonesia to take action to combat and mitigate climate change.

"The Bali climate conference is over, but much still needed to be done both by the government and the community to mitigate climate change."

RI regrets some developed nations` stand on its REDD scheme

Nusa Dua, Bali (ANTARA News) - Indonesia on Friday expressed regret about some developed nations` stand on its newly-launched mechanism to collect funds through the Reduction of Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) scheme.

Germany, Australia, Britain and the World Bank had not explicitly stated their commitment to the scheme, Agus Purnomo, executive chairman of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)`s organizing committee, said here Friday.

"It is like being invited to lunch by the developed nations. They play the perfect host .... But when the waiter present the bill, they say they had left their wallet at home. That is what happens to negotiations at the 13th COP to UNFCCC," he said.

Purnomo, who is also assistant to the Indonesian environment minister said all countries had a proportional role in the Kyoto Protocol whose derivatives include the REDD scheme. Under the protocol, developed nations were committed to providing rain tropical forest countries with funds.

"We deeply regret that the developed nations have yet to meet their commitment. As a matter of fact, developing countries like Indonesia have carried out a number of activities, including pilot projects expected to be funded through the REDD scheme," he said.

Wahyudi Wardoyo, chief of the forestry research and development board at the Forestry Ministry, said a number of developed countries had expressed support for the pilot projects to be carried out from 2008 to 2012 by providing funds.

"Two months ago, Germany, Australia, Britain and the World Bank expressed their commitment. But yesterday (Dec 6) when we launched pilot activities under the REDD scheme, they did not show their concrete support," he said.

The REDD scheme is expected to generate up to US$2 million annually through the sale of carbon stored in the country`s tropical forests.

Indonesian Forestry Minister MS Kaban said on Thursday Indonesia had been following developments around the REDD scheme since it began to be discussed a few years ago.

Under the REDD scheme, developing countries would market tons of carbon stored in their forests to developed countries who have the obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emission.

The Kyoto Protocol, which entered into force in 2005, laid down the practical commitments assumed by states party to implement the Framework Convention`s goal of mitigating global warming.

Indonesia, host of 120.3 million hectares of forest, will designate 37.5 million hectares of its forests for the REDD project. "If for each hectare of forest the payment is US$10 a year, Indonesia will gain US$3.75 billion every year," Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said recently.

Govt prepares to plant 79 million trees

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is very optimistic that its effort to present a gift to the world by planting 79 million trees next week will make a significant contribution toward curbing global warming.

The planting, to take place on Nov. 28, has been designed a national event in which people at around 79,000 locations all over Indonesia will plant trees at exactly the same time.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will kick off the action from Jonggol, West Java, at 9 a.m., while people in the middle and eastern parts of Indonesia will carry out the planting at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., respectively.

Forestry Minister M.S. Ka'ban said the campaign related to Indonesia's role as the host of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) talks in December.

During the Bali meetings, Indonesia will propose a scheme called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD). The scheme is expected to provide an opportunity for countries willing to conserve their forests be compensated financially for each ton of carbon gas the forests absorb.

"Over the next three years, the trees can be expected to grow to around two meters high and start effectively absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2). One hectare of land packed with six-year-old trees can absorb around 200 tons of CO2 per year," Ka'ban said during a press conference at the Forestry Ministry on Friday.

He hoped the world would see the effort as a strong signal that Indonesia was serious about the REDD proposal. He added that it would be unfair if Indonesia had to bear the responsibility of preserving its forests, losing its right to benefit from them, while other countries enjoy the outcome for free.

"At least Rp 216 trillion is needed for replanting all of Indonesia's forests that have been damaged," he said.

He explained that the total cost for the 79-million-tree planting campaign would be around Rp 1.28 trillion (US$136.7 million). "The fund was generated from forestry businessmen all over Indonesia, while almost all of the seedlings come from the Forestry Ministry stockpiles."

The committee chairman for the campaign, Soetino Wibowo, explained that the target number of 79 million trees was based on the total number of state institutions throughout Indonesia that would participate.

"We have around 79,000 state institutions, the national, provincial, regental, district and sub-district and municipal levels, as well as the police and military branches. Every institution will plant at least 1,000 trees. However, we are sure that they can do more," Soetino said.

He also said that the planting campaign would be followed up by efforts to care for the trees over the next three years. "The first three years are the most critical period of growth," he said. (uwi)

Support grows for RI to take lead in Bali

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Developing and least-developed countries are expecting more money to be raised for climate adaptation programs and that contributions be made mandatory for developed countries during the UN climate conference in Bali in December.

With the negative impacts of climate change being felt most directly by poorer countries, adaptation, which refers to policies and activities to cope with the changing environment, becomes critical for the survival of developing countries, participants of a workshop on adaptation strategies for Asia and Africa agreed here Wednesday.

"Predominantly, the poor of the world depend directly on natural resources through cultivation, herding, collecting or hunting for their livelihoods. Thus, climate change impacts on the natural resource base will have a direct affect on the livelihoods of the poor," Kai Kim Chiang of the Stockholm Environment Institute told participants.

Ainun Nishat, Bangladesh country representative for the World Conservation Union, said the Kyoto Protocol recognized that developed countries had the obligation to support developing countries under the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

"One of the key issues to be debated in Bali is how can we have more funding for adaptation, and whether we should have separate conventions like the Kyoto Protocol for adaptation. In Bali, we probably can't develop the legal framework or draft it, but it can be the starting point where countries agree to push for it," he said.

Mozaharul Alam of the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies said that under Kyoto, developed countries supported adaptation funds through a voluntary mechanism.

"Through that voluntary mechanism it is very difficult to predict the adaptation fund and its size. So, most developing nations, including Indonesia, are arguing for mandatory contributions for adaptation programs rather than a voluntary mechanism," he said.

Both hoped that Indonesia could take the lead for developing nations by forming a friends of chair group, including the prominent members of the G-77 and Asian and African countries, in focusing the agenda in Bali on getting adaptation funds agreed to by putting pressure on developed nations.

Indonesia and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) will hold a climate conference in Bali from Dec. 3 to 14.

One of the main tasks for the conference is to begin to formulate a new multilateral agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the current global agreement that formalizes efforts to curb pollution which expires in 2012.

Festus Luboyera of South Africa said many countries hoped the new adaptation mechanism could be included in the new protocol.

"Lack of funds continues to be a problem for the implementation of adaptation programs," Luboyera, who works for UNFCCC secretariat, said.

While other participants agreed there was a problem of funding for developing countries, they also pointed out several other problems such as low level of awareness both among the political elite and the grass roots, and difficulties in translating global data and information about climate change to people at the regional and village level.

Yolando Velasco of the UNFCCC secretariat and Annie Roncerel of the UN Institute for Training and Research agreed that climate change must be included in the development strategies of each developing country.

"If you don't include climate change risks into development calculations then development results will be at risk of being destroyed or ruined by negative climate change impacts, and it will cost a lot more than the initial calculation," Roncerel said.

REDD, not green, scheme for reducing emissions

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Bogor

In front of 40 international parties in Bogor on Thursday, Indonesia tabled a new pilot project that would see developing countries adopt REDD - an incentivized program to better manage forest emissions.

REDD (Reducing emissions from deforestation in developing nations) is an alternative to Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM) and would see forested countries reap more financial benefits by remanaging their forestry sector.

Many forested countries have not been able to adopt Kyoto's CDM into their forestry sector, which was one the main incentives behind the development of REDD.

The government said it would select four forests from across the country to pilot the project, which involves financial incentives for better managing forestry activities.

Senior advisor on partnership affairs at the forestry ministry Sunaryo said, "We will select (the) forests for the project and hopefully we can show them to the world in Bali," Sunaryo said.

"We hope the Bali meeting can adopt the concept," he said.

The four forest projects would be located in South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, North Sumatra and Southeast Sulawesi.

Included in the proposal is the Heart of Borneo, a total of 220,000 square kilometers of equatorial rainforest encompassing Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia on Kalimantan island.

Bali is set to host the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference from Dec. 3 to 14.

The REDD mechanism has been proposed by Indonesia for the world's rainforest countries and should see some financial benefits arise for efforts made to better manage deforestation.

The government said it was hopeful other developed countries would accept the concept.

It said REDD would help significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and would help address climate change.

The Kyoto Protocol on CDM only acknowledges aforestation and reforestation projects.

The protocol defines aforestation as converting land unforested for a period of at least 50 years to forested land via proactive seeding and planting management.

Reforestation is defined as the conversion of land area to a forested area after December 1989.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Wednesday countries that adopted the REDD program would be eligible for financial incentives from developed countries to help cope with any economic losses.

"The carbon market for REDD should provide a better price for each ton of carbon saved, and that price should be determined by the market so that the tropical rain forest countries do not have to shoulder the burden of opportunity costs," he said.

A ton of carbon dioxide stored by a forest is priced at US$3 to $5 and CDM from the energy saving sector is currently worth between $5 and $10.

Yudhoyono also said multinational companies in developed countries should play a crucial role in efforts to forest and prevent deforestation.

Forestry has long been a primary source of income for Indonesia. Data from the forestry ministry said the deforestation rate in Indonesia was 1.8 million hectares between 1987 and 1997.

The rate rose to 2.8 million hectares per year until 2000. Between 2000 to 2006 deforestation fell to 1.08 million hectares per year.

Emissions caused by changes in forests represent about one-fifth of the world's total emissions.

Indonesia currently has 120 million hectares of forest -- the world's third largest after Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Some 24 CDM projects have been developed across the archipelago, most of which have focused on alternative energy sources but none of which have been UN-approved for carbon trade to-date.