Guest Speaker's Forum: 'Not too late' to fix climate action plan

Mon, 06/09/2008 10:29 AM  |  National

The government has formulated the national action plan on climate change as part of the country's efforts to cope with the effects of global warming. However, the action plan has not allowed adequately for public participation, which runs counter to the global fight against climate change under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. Advisor to the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) Mas Ahmad Santosa discussed the issue with The Jakarta Post's Adianto P. Simamora and Desy Nurhayati.

Question: How do you see Indonesia's efforts in following up on the global climate change conference in Bali last December?

Answer: Our efforts so far have been too sluggish. If we look at the Bali Road Map and the REDD (Reduced Emission from Degradation and Deforestation) scheme, it will take us a long time to carry out the required tasks. There are many things to prepare, such as the method and the infrastructure, to be sure the tasks can be achieved.

Therefore, the government should invite all stakeholders to speed up their efforts. Our slowness to act is partly because the government has many other issues to focus on, apart from the impact of climate change.

In this case, we can see the difference between advanced and developing countries. Both groups are hit by the impact of climate change, but the developing countries like us can't adapt as quickly, while some of the people in these countries, such as farmers and fishermen, have already been affected.

So how to speed up the efforts, considering the effects of climate change are imminent?

Because the government has many problems to deal with, I think establishing a national commission on climate change could be a solution, but it will depend on how the commission is structured.

The commission has to be able to invite all stakeholders to participate and to coordinate the stakeholders. It should also be influential and recognized by the highest policy makers. Therefore, good organization among institutions is important to speed up the efforts.

Is it necessary to revise the national action plan on climate change so as to open up access to all stakeholders including the public?

Yes. I think public participation has not really been a concern in the national action plan, maybe because there was only a short time to formulate the action plan before the climate change conference. Now is the right time to update the action plan -- it's not too late. The revision should include more opportunities for the public to take part. The current action plan does not at all stipulate a strategy for public involvement. It seems the responsibility for dealing with the impact of climate change is being shouldered solely by the government.

The public has no idea what role it has in the effort to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change because the government does not make it clear for them. Most people do not even know about the Clean Development Mechanism even though the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol are open for public contributions.

I think the national action plan on corruption eradication can be a model because it is a good action plan which factors in public involvement.

By using the national action plan on climate change, we should have been able to show the international community that we are capable of carrying out concrete actions, no matter how simple those actions are. This is what we call a demonstration activity.

The countries that participated in the climate change conference are encouraged to demonstrate their performance in addressing the causes of deforestation, as well as in implementing the Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry.

Our national action plan has stipulated clear actions and a timeframe for each action, and names those responsible for executing each action. But so far we have not seen any outcomes, so it is still merely a plan.

The government should have been able to identify the strengths of each community that could contribute to the action plan. The communities should have been given the opportunity to get involved, so climate change would no longer be an issue discussed by the elites, while remaining unfamiliar among the general public because of their limited involvement.

Although there have been concrete measures from the action plan, the measures are only recognized among governmental institutions, and it's still too slow.

As for the demonstration activity, is public participation also missing from the REDD scheme?

Yes. Even though the REDD scheme is for the public benefit, it still lacks public participation. In fact, we can generate money just by protecting our forests. That is why we need to develop environmental services through which we can earn compensation.

Tackling illegal logging can be a demonstration activity to show the world that we can do something, so that we can get compensation from advanced countries -- which benefit from our efforts in preserving forests -- and use the money to develop our country. A demonstration activity can be a resource for us, but it requires a lot of hard work.

It's a shame we have not yet been able to demonstrate our success in fighting illegal logging. The deforestation rate is increasing, and we have not managed to overcome it.

And the demonstration activity itself has not been included in our national action plan because the plan was drafted before the climate change conference.

Once again, the national action plan on climate change needs to be revised. And it's not too late to do it now.

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