According to a statement from the Indonesian Environment and Forestry Ministry on Thursday, the grant would be handed over in June – coinciding with the commemoration of a decade of climate funding cooperation in which Indonesia would receive a total of US$1 billion for protecting its tropical forests.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya said the grant was a result-based payment.

“This is going to be the first payment for Indonesia’s achievement in its REDD+ effort during the period between 2016 and 2017,” she said.

Read also: How Indonesia finally earned nod from Norway for climate fund

The ministry reported to Norway that the country saw a decline in the deforestation rate in the 2016-2017 period, with 480,000 hectares of forest lost that was believed to have prevented the release of about 4.8 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions to the atmosphere – a figure lower than the baseline agreed upon by both countries.

Under the REDD+ scheme, Indonesia and Norway agreed to measure Indonesia’s results against a 10-year average level of emissions between 2006 and 2016. The annual emissions during that period were estimated at 237 million tons CO2e from deforestation and 42 million tons from forest degradation.

According to the verification process conducted by the Norwegian government from November last year to March, the emissions reduction achieved by Indonesia in the 2016-2017 period was counted at 11.2 million tons CO2e – higher than its initial report of 4.8 million tons.

Siti said the government was working to finalize the necessary documents and reports required for the payment, including the measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) report that served as the basis of the result-based payment.

The ministry was also finalizing its report on carbon emissions as the basis for the first payment, which contains data on Indonesia’s emissions decline from deforestation and forest degradation between 2016 and 2017.

The minister explained that each ton of CO2e under the scheme was valued at $5, referring to the price designated by the World Bank for the REDD+ scheme.

She said Indonesia expected to receive another round of payments for its progress in the 2017-2018 period and onward.

Read also: Can Indonesia stop deforestation?

The fund would be channeled through the Indonesian Environmental Estate Fund (BPDLH), a public service agency tasked with managing funds related to environmental protection and conservation. The agency was launched in October last year.

“President [Joko Widodo] has ordered to use the fund for community-based environmental recovery efforts,” said Siti.

In a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Thursday, Norwegian Ambassador to Indonesia Vegard Kaale congratulated the Indonesian government on the positive result under the REDD+ scheme.

“The governments of Indonesia and Norway are in the process of finalizing the verification process and agreeing on the way forward and would like to come back with more detailed comments when this process is completed," the ambassador wrote. (kuk)