T

he United Nations has vowed to give US$5.6 million to Indonesia, the world’s third-largest forest nation, to ensure the protection of some of its forests, an official says.

The United Nations collaborative program on Reducing Emissions on Deforestation and forest Degradation (UN-REDD) vowed to develop REDD pilot project in Central Sulawesi forests this year.

“We are still assessing whether to allocate forests that used to be used for timber for this pilot project,” Hadi Daryanto, director general of forest production at the Forestry Ministry told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The project would be implemented this year to help Indonesia develop a mechanism to calculate emission levels in the province.

Hadi said that the fund for the REDD project in Central Sulawesi would come from Norway but that it was separate to the $1 billion pledged by that country to Indonesia in Oslo in May.

Indonesia and Norway signed a $1 billion climate deal to cut the rate of deforestation in Indonesia, which is currently more than 1 million hectares of forest per year.

UN-REDD was launched in 2008 by the UN Secretary-General and the Norwegian Prime Minister. Indonesia is one of nine countries that will host pilots for the program.

A number of pilot projects funded by foreign countries are already in place in Indonesia.

Australia has said it plans to invest $70 million in carbon financing projects in Central Kalimantan and Jambi.

Germany also promised ¤20 million ($26 million) for REDD pilot projects in Kapuas Hulu in West Kalimantan and Berau in East Kalimantan.

South Korea pledged $5 million to develop a REDD project for forests in West Nusa Tenggara.

REDD is an international scheme designed to reduce deforestation by guaranteeing forest nations money for protecting their forests. Deforestation accounts for 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

The scheme is expected to begin after 2012 if world countries agree to a binding treaty on emission cuts to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Negotiators from many countries are currently descending on Bonn, Germany, to attend a five-day conference discussing a replacement for the protocol.

Delegations from Indonesia expressed optimism that REDD could be adopted as an alternative to reduce global emissions.

“Talks on REDD have made a lot of progress during international meetings,” head of Indonesia’s delegation team Rachmat Witoelar said Sunday before departing to Bonn for the climate conference.

Hadi said that Indonesian officials including chief of the Presidential Work Unit for Development Monitoring and Control Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta and special assistant to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on climate change Agus Purnomo would meet billionaire George Soros in Jakarta this week to discuss REDD projects in Indonesia.

Hadi, accompanied by Soros, who was also a member of the panel of climate change advisers to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, visited Aceh on Monday.

Last week, Soros visited forests and peatlands in Central Kalimantan.