Rain began to fall last Oct. 26, putting out most of the forest and peatland fires. The Environment and Forestry Ministry has reported that 2.6 million hectares of land were burned between Feb. 1, 2015 and Oct. 28, 2015, with emissions reaching 1,100 million tons of CO2 equivalent.

In the Forest Reference Emission Level (FREL) document, the ministry also revealed that Indonesia emitted 593 million tons of CO2 equivalent annually from 1990 to 2013. This figure was estimated based on deforestation, forest degradation and peat decomposition in forested areas. This figure, however, does not take into account the fires across forests and peatlands. Hence, the average annual emissions produced in 23 years were much lower than those produced by fires in 2015 alone.

Indonesia has used various references for developing its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), one of which was the FREL document. However, due to time and technical constraints, the emissions data on forests and land fires were not included in the INDC’s emissions calculation. Considering the high emissions produced by the fires, the INDC clearly requires a revision. But can the INDC be revised? If so, when? What are some other items that need to be reviewed? How can we assess the substance of the INDC with regard to last year’s Paris Agreement on climate change?