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Indonesia aims to transform forests into carbon sink
The government is aiming for the forestry and land use sector to be not only carbon neutral but also a carbon sink by 2030 as part of a greater emissions reduction strategy. But environmentalists are skeptical
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Indonesian firefighters battle a peatland forest fire in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra in September 2019. (AFP/Abdul Qodir)
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he government is aiming for the forestry and land use sector to be not only carbon neutral but also a carbon sink by 2030 as part of a greater emissions reduction strategy.
Indonesia has targeted to reduce emissions by 29 percent independently and 41 percent with international assistance in its nationally determined contributions (NDCs) submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat in 2016.
The latest updated NDC document, submitted by the Environment and Forestry Ministry on July 21 of this year, says that a large chunk of emissions reduction is expected to come from the forestry and land use sector by 2030, at 24.5 percent. This makes up around 692 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
The ministry is now trying to take corrective measures to support the plan, including by reducing deforestation and preventing land degradation and forest fires, according to Deputy Minister Alue Dohong.
He said the government would also continue to prevent biodiversity loss and update policies in line with environmental international conventions, as well as redirect forest economics from logging operations to sustainable forest management.
“By implementing these corrective measures, we are optimistic that we can achieve the carbon sink target by 2030,” Alue said in a press conference on Wednesday.
Read also: Indonesia mulls net-zero emissions target by 2070
