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REDD+ in partnership has greater reach
Putting aside whether the grant money has been disbursed or not, Indonesia has exercised a number of REDD+ activities that reduced carbon emissions in the forestry and land-use sector.
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Scenic view of a tropical forest in Kalimantan. (Shutterstock/File)
The announcement came from out of the blue.
On May 26, 2010, Indonesia and Norway signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) for Cooperation on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). The ceremony took place in Oslo and was attended by then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and prime minister Jens Stoltenberg. But 11 years later, on Sept. 10, seemingly out of nowhere, Indonesia announced a unilateral decision to enact Article XIII (b_ of the LoI: “This Letter of Intent may be terminated at any time by either of the Parties, by written notification, through diplomatic channels.”
The Foreign Ministry at Pejambon Park, Central Jakarta, delivered a diplomatic note to the Royal Norwegian Embassy at Rajawali Tower in Kuningan, South Jakarta, to notify that Indonesia had decided to terminate the LoI.
Indonesia’s main reason was that it was seeing a “lack of concrete progress” in the implementation of the Norwegian government's obligation to deliver the results-based payment for Indonesia’s achievement in reducing 11.2 million CO2 equivalent (CO2eq) of greenhouse gas emissions in 2016/2017, which has been verified by an international organization.
The core of the LoI is Norway’s agreement to deliver a cash grant of up to US$1 billion to Indonesia if Indonesia succeeds in reducing by verifiable means carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Arriving at the LoI took a marathon of negotiations in Oslo on May 12-13, 2010. Indonesia’s lead negotiator was Agus Purnomo, the president’s climate advisor. His counterpart was Hans Brattskar, director of the Norwegian government’s Climate and Forestry Initiative. Concessions were traded off in the negotiations departing from an LoI draft the Indonesian team brought.
The Norwegian side requested an additional commitment. Agus, mandated by president SBY, revealed that Indonesia would implement a two-year moratorium on issuing permits for the use of primary forests and peatlands.
