T

he Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit kicks off on Monday in Yogyakarta, bringing together government representatives, forestry experts and business players to find a sustainable solution for forest conservation in the region.

For Indonesia, which has received the honor of becoming the third country to host the summit after Australia and Brunei Darussalam, the three-day event offers a greater chance to play its role in encouraging collective action in the region, particularly following the 2016 Paris Agreement.

As one of the countries that ratified the Paris Agreement, Indonesia pledged to cut its emissions by 29 percent by 2030 on its own efforts and by 41 percent with international support, as stated in its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) document.

“One of the most important aspects of this international event is the ability to engage with others to debate and explore ways of tackling important issues in the forestry sector,” Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said recently.

At the event, the government will highlight peatland restoration, which is among four initiatives in the forestry sector expected to contribute to the effort to lower carbon emissions.

“Speaking on the areas that we want to highlight, we are very focused on peatland since it makes up 11 percent of Indonesia’s total land area and stores up to 60 billion metric tons of carbon, making it one of our most important environmental assets,” Siti said.

Indonesia aims to restore 90 percent of the targeted 2 million hectares of peatland by 2030, as stated in its NDC document.

In the NDC paper, Indonesia placed the burden on the forestry and land use sectors to contribute 17 percent to the targeted 29 percent reduction in greenhouse gas output.

In late 2016, the government enacted a government regulation to protect peatland ecosystems, a policy that aims to bolster an existing moratorium on peatland conversion issued by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in 2015 after massive land and forest fires. But some environmentalists have questioned the efficacy of the regulation’s implemention.

At the summit, which is organized by Indonesia in collaboration with Australia, and with support from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), seven issues will be discussed, including forest management in each respective NDC, community forestry as well as forest finance, investment and trade.

Environment ministries from five different countries — Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Fiji and Vanuatu — were set to sit together with 93 forestry experts at the summit, while around 900 participants, including 200 from 35 foreign countries, had confirmed their participation, Environment and Forestry Ministry secretary-general Bambang Hendroyono said.

The summit is part of the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Partnership, which supports the implementation of the Paris Agreement by providing a platform to encourage the reduction of emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation in the Asia-Pacific region.

Climate and forestry expert from the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Indonesia office Arief Wijaya said there were two outcomes that could be expected from the summit.

“Indonesia can share with other Asia-Pacific countries its experience in managing rainforest amid existing social and political pressures, while at the same time, expanding its network and improving cooperation in forestry management, especially in climate change mitigation efforts,” Arief said.

CIFOR scientist Herry Poernomo hoped the summit would allow Indonesia to gain support from big countries by initiating joint collaboration on forestry. (dpk)