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Indonesia'€™s climate plan: Any hope through the haze?

A week before the critical Paris climate talks, Indonesia became the world’s top greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter due to the huge recent forest and peatland fires in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua

Yani Saloh (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, November 23, 2015

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Indonesia'€™s climate plan: Any hope through the haze?

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week before the critical Paris climate talks, Indonesia became the world'€™s top greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter due to the huge recent forest and peatland fires in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua. Before the fires, Indonesia was already the world'€™s fifth-largest GHG emitter.

The Paris talks are the last chance for countries to agree on how to tackle GHG emissions beyond 2020. The goal is to limit global temperature rise to no more than 2 degrees Celsius. Most countries have already submitted their plans for 2020 onward, known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC).

Given Indonesia'€™s status as a major global emitter, our new climate plan is critical to the global effort to reduce emissions '€” including what Indonesia does to save its forests and peatland.

Indonesia'€™s commitment to reduce emissions by 29 percent from business as usual (BAU) can be summed up as '€œmore of the same'€. This target will be met using national funds, and an additional 12 percent reduction is on offer subject to outcomes of the Paris agreement, including bilateral cooperation. The BAU scenario is a projection of likely future emissions if no reductions are made.

Of our emissions, 63 percent come from land use changes, peatland drainage and fires. The fires released emissions greater than Japan produces in a year, and on some days released more GHGs than the entire US economy on that same day. The US economy is 20 times larger than Indonesia'€™s.

So Indonesia'€™s natural assets were burning to the ground, damaging health and livelihoods, with nothing to show for it.

Thanks to persistent economic growth over the last three decades, the proportion of Indonesia'€™s population living in poverty has dropped significantly. Much of this growth has been delivered through a '€œmining at the frontier'€ approach '€” cutting down more forests, digging up more minerals, catching more fish, and selling them with little added value.

Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data in 2011 cited 30 million people living in poverty and spending less than US$1.13 per day. The Asia Development Bank said there were 43 million people with an expenditure level of $1.25 per day. Other estimates suggest that the number of people living on less than $2 per day is close to 100 million, mostly in rural areas.
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... if you are one of the 100 million rural farmers and your crops flood, or dry up and burn, you will be thrust back into poverty.


Clearly we all rely to some degree on natural capital and environmental services '€” things like clean water and air, reliable weather patterns so that food can grow and the absence of landslides, flooding and fires. Thirty years of unsustainable growth has destroyed many of these gifts of nature and has brought with it droughts and fires, making the air toxic even for city dwellers.

But if you are one of the 100 million rural farmers and your crops flood, or dry up and burn, you will be thrust back into poverty.

As Indonesia submits its INDC for the Paris conference it is hard to see hope through the haze. A list of targets for a future administration to implement in five years is irrelevant when our land is burning today.

President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo has called on developed countries to act as role models in finding global climate solutions. As the leader of a major global emitter, below are three key areas our President could excel in to become a role model himself and to clear the air so that we can see as far as 2020.

First, accept foreign assistance. The handling of the haze issue has seen a defensive reaction from the government. The default stance has been that there is no need for foreign assistance. Even with more than 25,000 military, police and fire-fighting personnel, authorities have been overwhelmed by the extent of the fires.

Fortunately this stance has slowly shifted toward acceptance of international efforts from Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Australia and Russia. Even our legislature, which often shows narrow-minded, anti-foreign, nationalist sentiment, has finally indicated support for foreign assistance. Just imagine the devastation and suffering that could have been avoided if this help had been accepted earlier.

Second, finalize accurate maps and manage peatland properly. Indonesia still has poor mapping of land cover, legal use of land and lacks clarity over land administration. Establishing responsibilities for preventing and fighting fires and prosecuting those who start them is fraught with difficulty. Perpetrators can escape prosecution.

Finalizing the '€œOne Map'€ initiative, which will provide clear, consistent and complementary information on land cover, land use and legal status, is critical for managing sustainably.

As soon as the fires are fully extinguished, immediate action must be taken to prevent the same thing happening again next year. This means strict enforcement of legislation (including improved local regulations) against the use of fire, a law to protect remaining peat swamp forests and rewetting of drained areas.

The digging of canals in Tumbang Nusa peatland in Kalimantan for example '€” a questionable strategy to halt the fires '€” must be reversed. To avoid drying out and burning, peatland must be managed as an integral unit. If you drain one part of a peatland, you drain it all.

Third, fix structural governance problems. An inherent conflict of interest occurs where a single entity, for example a government department, has responsibility for measuring and reporting on its own performance. This invites subjective measurement at best, and corruption at worst.

It was for this reason that the paramilitary task force for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plus conservation (Satgas REDD+) was set up in 2013 to monitor and report on reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. This team was deliberately separate from and independent of the implementers of the plans to reduce deforestation '€” the forestry ministry. This '€œindependent'€ monitoring role was moved into the new Forestry and Environment Ministry. This should be reversed.

Illegal logging has long been a big problem for the environment and for trade. During 12 years of negotiations with the EU, Indonesia built a timber legality assurance system (SVLK), to give its timber products priority access to the European market. Sensibly, the legality assurance system was to be applied to all wood cut and processed in Indonesia, whether destined for Europe or not.

But in October the Trade Ministry relaxed the timber legality scheme, exempting 15 product types from its requirements. This '€œderegulation'€ is likely to lead to confusion '€” and more opportunities for illegal cutting of trees and selling of wood. The SVLK has been a success story for international cooperation and using trade to solve environmental problems. It should be expanded not weakened.

Our future '€” tomorrow, next year and beyond 2020 '€” depends on the actions we implement now, not only to respond to global problems, but for our own good. Unless there is serious and immediate action taken in these three critical areas, our future will be lost in the haze.
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The author is an independent consultant assisting the Asia Development Bank Forest Investment Program and the Kehati Foundation'€™s Millennium Challenge Account -Indonesia project. The opinions expressed are her own.

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