But Asean cautions against let-up in bid to fight haze from Indonesia
Azhar Ghani, Straits Times 14 Dec 07;
IN BALI - THE regional fight to rid South-east Asia of the annual haze caused by land-clearing and forest fires in Indonesia could benefit from the international battle against global warming.
Delegates at the UN climate talks here are likely to set up a mechanism that would make it more valuable for governments to protect their trees than allow timber and palm oil barons to cut them down.
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said yesterday that delegates are close to agreeing on guidelines for a pay-and-preserve scheme for forests under a future deal to fight global warming.
But Asean representatives have cautioned that the regional grouping should not let up in its anti-haze efforts as any major impact from the new scheme would still be some years away.
The scheme, known as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (Redd), would be the first to include forest protection measures in negotiations on replacing the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
Under Redd, developing countries such as Indonesia could be paid billions of dollars a year to protect their forests.
The destruction of tropical forests accounts for 20 per cent of yearly greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. In Indonesia, this has also led to large swathes of fire-prone terrain left vulnerable to irresponsible land-clearing by fire.
While Redd is aimed at slowing global warming, it would also help Asean's anti-haze fight, said Ms Frances Seymour, the director-general of the Centre for International Forestry Research (Cifor).
She told The Straits Times: 'By encouraging people to avoid deforestation activities, the forest protection proposal may help reduce the extent to which peatland is converted for activities associated with land-clearing by fire.'
The rewards for countries which preserve their forests would likely come in the form of tradeable carbon credits, which are bought and sold in the market for greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, industrialised countries are required to reach certain emissions targets by either emitting less or by buying someone else's cutbacks to claim as their own.
Redd would allow countries with large forest reserves to sell the amount of carbon credits they keep out of the atmosphere if they preserve their trees. This will give these countries greater access to the carbon trading market which, according to one report, records transactions of at least US$15 billion (S$22 billion) a year.
And even as the loose ends of Redd are being tied up, the proposal appears to have already made an impact.
Yesterday, Indonesia's Riau province, which accounts for a large part of the smoke that affects both Singapore and Malaysia every year, announced a temporary halt to its current land-use planning process.
This means that approvals for new plantations and other developments, which could involve land-clearing, would be stopped for now.
Riau governor Rusli Zainal said the move was to 'generate solid scientific data on carbon stock and other high conservation values' to prepare the province for the benefits under the Redd.
Still, a member of an Asean country speaking on condition of anonymity, expressed concern. He feared some Asean countries might feel Indonesia should now not get any anti-haze funding from the grouping, given that it would benefit from Redd.
Cifor's Ms Seymour, however, felt that Asean would do the right thing.
'Redd would take some years to kick off,' she said.
'It is in Asean's interests not to wait and to solve the haze issue quickly, as every haze-affected day amounts to some economic losses.'
