RI reaps $100m in grants for forest protection

Desy Nurhayati and Adianto P. Simamora ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 03/28/2008 11:27 AM  |  National

The government has reaped US$100 million cash in grants from the international community to implement forest protection projects in Indonesia in an effort to sink below producing a million tons of carbon emissions per year.

Forestry minister MS Ka'ban said his ministry would issue a regulation to secure the implementation of Reduction Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) projects.

"Just wait a few weeks and we will announce a regulation on REDD projects," he said after the opening of a national working meeting on forestry at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Thursday.

Ka'ban said the money would be distributed to regions eligible to perform pilot activities for REDD projects.

He did not specify names of areas that would host the projects, although he included as possibilities Papua, Aceh, Kalimantan and Maluku provinces.

REDD projects represent one of many measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions adopted during the UN climate change conference in Bali last December.

"We expect to have eight or nine REDD pilot projects this year," Ka'ban said.

He said his ministry would examine existing damages to forests to determine their eligibility for project funding.

A study by the government showed that with the price of carbon at about $10 per ton, the REDD would generate up to $2 million annually through carbon trading.

Indonesia is home to 120 million hectares of rainforest, the third largest area in a country after Brazil and Congo.

Green activists have criticized forest carbon trading, lamenting a newly-issued government regulation allowing open-pit mining in protected forests, saying it went against the government's promise to protect the forests.

Ka'ban, however, said the government would continue to implement the regulation, which demands payment for forest use.

"Nothing is wrong with the regulation. We will not issue new licenses for miners to operate in protected forests. It is only for 13 mining companies," he said.

The regulation, in effect since Feb. 8, stipulates non-forestry firms operating in protected forests must pay between Rp 1.2 and Rp 3 million per hectare per year, with open-pit miners having to pay the maximum fee.

Ka'ban also said forest crimes had sharply decreased in the past two years due to intensive monitoring.

"There were only 325 forest crimes in 2007, down from 769 cases in the previous year," he said.

He said the ministry had recorded illegal logging and illegal trading in Ketapang, West Kalimantan, this year.

"Currently, there is no more illegal logging in Riau," he said.

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