Indonesia is not a master of the greening narrative; and as a consequence, we often become the target of negative campaigns against our major commodity exports. In achieving the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we call for a holistic approach to environmental protection, not only by addressing deforestation, but also other challenges such as soil and water contamination.

Unfortunately, such an approach is proving difficult to gain traction.

Negative campaign notwithstanding, Indonesia has prioritized the need to address deforestation by adopting an evidence-based approach while measuring effective progress on the ground.

While this is work in progress, it is accelerating at an impressive pace as Indonesia is now leading by example.

On July 3, 2020, the Norwegian government officially acknowledged the result of an independent verification on Indonesia’s success in reducing CO₂ emissions from deforestation and forest degradation of around 17 million tons in 2016-2017 – a size equivalent to one third of Norway’s annual emissions outside the country’s North Sea and Arctic oil exploitation. Under its Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) plus partnership with Indonesia, Norway is expected to provide the first result-based payment worth US$56 million to Indonesia, which is yet to be delivered.

While withholding funds is regrettable, our government’s efforts continue unabated with an average annual national budget of Rp 89.6 trillion ($6.4 billion) from 2016 to 2020 devoted to climate actions, including emission reductions from deforestation and forest degradation.

Popular

Analysis: Prabowo’s approval rating 51 percent and falling

Poverty falls, but the line is too low, economists say

Arrests over posts on Prabowo’s Iran remark raise free speech alarm