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ozens of activists from the Yogyakarta Alliance for the Rejection of Forest Investment Planning (FIP) staged a rally on Tuesday in protest at the three-day FIP meeting being held in the city.

The protesters criticized the meeting '€” involving eight countries including Indonesia and part of the Climate Investment Fund (CIF) '€” for being exclusive, funded by loans and a threat to the rights of customary communities over their forests.

'€œThe FIP does not involve the people who use forests for their livelihoods and the loan to fund the program is a burden on the people,'€ the alliance'€™s spokesperson Hamzal Wahyudin said.

As well as Indonesia, the participating countries comprise Brazil, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Laos, Mexico and Peru. The eight countries were selected for pilot projects in the reduction of carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and the program is funded by multilateral development banks.

The meeting in Yogyakarta is aimed at sharing views on the implementation of the FIP, discussing best practices in the participating countries and deliberating other problems related to the program.

'€œWith the FIP, the government will control the forests and oust the customary communities. Later on the forests will be controlled by multinational companies,'€ Hamzal said.

Hamzal also claimed that the plan could incite vertical and horizontal conflicts because according to Law No. 34/2004 the military had been granted the authority to enter and guard villages where there were conservation activities.

A Forestry Ministry expert overseeing the economy and international trade, IB Putera Parthama, said, however, that the FIP meeting was part of a long process and involved the customary communities.

'€œI have been informed by my predecessor that the government has tried to involve these communities but many of them have not shown up when invited,'€ Putera said, adding that Indonesia would receive US$70 million for the FIP, about $37.5 million in grants and $32.5 million as loans to the private sector.

'€œIt'€™s not true that the funding for the FIP program is a loan. Only $32.5 million will be given to private sector interests in the forestry business. It is therefore the private sector that will pay off the loans and not the people of Indonesia,'€ he said.

He also said that FIP was necessary in the carbon-trade era. Indonesia was chosen as it had vast areas of forest and thus had a huge capacity to absorb carbon.

Apart from that, Indonesia has also committed to reducing carbon gas emissions by 26 percent by 2020.