Redd and Indonesia

Time to reflect and act

Mohamad Rayan-Clipper


Sudibyo M. Wiradji , THE JAKARTAPOST , JAKARTA Fri, 06/05/2009 1:40 PM Supplement

This year's World Environment Day (WED) carries the theme "*Your Planet Needs You - UNite to Combat Climate Change".

The theme is definitely relevant to Indonesia, which has the world's second largest tropical rainforest after Brazil.

This means it is important to look into Indonesia's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, its role in reducing the emissions and in coping with environmental issues.

Dealing with environmental issues, especially tackling climate change, remains a tough challenge. Indonesia is a large archipelagic country in which economic growth is highly emphasized and often prioritized at the expense of the environment. The concept of sustainable development, now more popularly called green or ecological development, is only good at the policy level. Under the sustainable development concept, economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects are equally important. In other words, the concept has yet to be implemented accordingly. This may explain the increasing environmental degradation suffered by different regions in the country, with deforestation and ecologically imbalanced cities in urban areas calling for attention.

It is no secret that excessive exploitation of forest resources and uncontrollable logging, forest fires and the destruction of peatland between the 1980s and 1990s led to forest degradation and deforestation. During these periods, between 0.8 billion tons and 2.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) were emitted to the atmosphere and turned into greenhouse gasses that contributed to climate change. Globally, greenhouse gas emissions related to forestry account for about 20 percent of the total. The World Bank ranks Indonesia as the world's third largest greenhouse gas emitter due to deforestation, land clearing and forest fires. Around 61 million hectares or around half of the country's total forest area of 120 million hectares has been cleared.

But as far as forestry is concerned, there is hope that the state of our forests will improve.
Even though the UN Reducing Emissions from Degradation and Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD) initiative won't be endorsed until the UN Framework Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) conference in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009, several countries - including Australia, Norway, Germany and the UK - have provided financial assistance under the program. The UN-REDD, launched at the Bali Climate Conference in 2007, is a global initiative that aims to provide compensation through the global carbon market for countries that reduce their national emissions by stopping and reversing deforestation and land degradation.

A pilot project covering 100 hectares of land is now under way in several regions, including Central, East and West Kalimantan and Palembang in South Sumatra. A number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is studying the possibility of applying the REDD to different levels, including regency, site and even several production units such as crude palm oil (CPO). Under the REDD concept, an effort is under way to utilize non-forest land for oil palm plantations to replace plantations that occupy forest land with high conservation value.

If everything goes as planned, under UN-REDD initiative, Indonesia will receive US$3.7 billion or more than Rp 33.7 trillion per year. With the funds, there should be no reason for Indonesia not to act to protect its forests and rehabilitate those that have been deforested. However, the central and regional governments, organizations, agencies, NGOs and stakeholders involved in the projects under REDD mechanism should assure international communities that the funds will not be embezzled, misused or misappropriated but will be used in an accountable manner. The positive side of the forest rehabilitation initiative is that it will provide job opportunities for people living around forests, including migrants whose livelihoods rely heavily on forest products, provided that the initiative can meet the real need of the local people. According to data, about 20 million people live in or around forests across Indonesia. Therefore, it is advisable to engage local communities in this regard. By participating in the REDD program, Indonesia will do its part in the global fight against climate change.

Another challenge, which is the toughest one, is how to deal with the greedy individuals (businesspeople and investors) who exploit Indonesia's weak law enforcement. It is no secret that greed on the part of individuals plays a big role in causing damage to forests in Indonesia, especially those who think nothing of generating short-term profit by taking advantage of forest resources for their own interest at an uncontrolled rate at the expense of the environment. Hectares of forest land in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi have been cleared to make way for plantations, including ones growing oil palms.

The question to be raised then is whether local governments can ensure an absence of greedy individuals who desire to expand oil palm plantations in protected forests with high conservation value.

Misappropriation of funds under the REDD scheme and the government's inability to curb uncontrolled forest clearance may undermine international confidence and tarnish Indonesia's image, and thus the budding hope to see Indonesia's tropical forests with their rich biodiversity well conserved may go up in smoke.

Like forests, environmentally unfriendly cities also produce greenhouse gasses, mostly from buildings and communities. And as part of efforts to mitigate global warming and keep natural resources sustainable, green building initiatives have been adopted in several countries.
Efforts are under way to introduce green initiatives, including green building practices, as a response to the growing global call to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the adoption of green building principles, which among other things, involves conserving energy and water. According to one report, globally, cities and communities cause 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

The population explosion coupled with the uncontrolled number of vehicles in big cities on Java island, especially in Jakarta, has deteriorated urban ecosystems. In Jakarta, for instance, green areas have shrunk dramatically over the last several decades.

Out of the ideal 30 percent of Jakarta's 650 square kilometers being dedicated to open green space, only 10 percent or around 65 square kilometers have been. Twenty percent of former green space has been turned into commercial buildings. Consequently, the limited trees in Jakarta's parks are insufficient to absorb CO2 emitted by the millions of vehicles using the city's roads daily. If the situation is left as it is, with no concrete action taken to control the size of the population and number of vehicles, imagine what will happen to Jakarta in the next 10 or 20 years! Cars in Jakarta may get stuck to the point of growing roots themselves!

Despite greater attention being paid by the global community to tropical forests, part of which belongs to Indonesia, this does not necessarily mean that urban ecosystems are neglected as cities also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, campaigns to raise environmental awareness must continue.