Fidelis E Satriastanti, The Jakarta Globe 27 Sep 09;
Environmental groups are calling on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to explain precisely how the government will reduce carbon emissions in the forestry sector after he announced targeted cuts of up to 26 percent by 2020.
Yudhoyono announced his plan at the Group of 20 summit on Friday in the US city of Pittsburgh. He called for international support to help Indonesia reduce emissions by even more, as much as 41 percent from current levels.
“We are devising an energy mix policy . . . that will reduce our emissions by 26 percent by 2020,” Yudhoyono said during a working lunch. “With international support, we are confident we can reduce emissions by as much as 41 percent.”
He said the target was achievable because most of the country’s emissions come from forest-related activity, such as forest fires and deforestation.
“We are also looking into the distinct possibility of committing a billion tons of CO 2 reduction by 2050,” he said. “We will change the status of our forests from that of a net emitter sector to a net [carbon] sink sector by 2030.”
At a G-8 Summit last year in Hokkaido, Japan, Yudhoyono committed to reducing carbon emissions from deforestation by 50 percent this year, 75 percent by 2012 and 95 percent by 2025.
But Joko Arief, a forest campaigner for Greenpeace Indonesia, said the government would not receive any international support without providing detailed plans describing exactly how it would reduce emissions.
“If we’re talking about targets, then we’re talking about forest fires and deforestation, because those two have been the largest carbon emitters for Indonesia,” Joko said.
“However, there are still no official commitments from the government on how to handle these factors. There are still many forest fires going on in this country, and the government seems to be getting used to this condition without taking action to stop it.”
Teguh Surya, head of advocacy for the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said it was inappropriate for the country to rely on international support to stop deforestation and forest degradation because it could backfire in international negotiations.
“These kinds of commitments should be made carefully because it could lead to shifting the responsibility for deeper cuts in emissions from developed countries to developing countries,” Teguh said, adding that Yudhoyono had committed to many targets but plans had not been implemented.
Only a small number of developed countries have announced their carbon-reduction commitments for 2020. The European Union has committed to a cut of 20 percent, Japan to 25 percent, and Norway to 30 percent.
Agus Purnomo, secretary of the National Council on Climate Change, said it does not plan to announce Yudhoyono’s reduction targets during international talks in Bangkok beginning today. The talks are being held to draft a negotiating text for December’s UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
“If we’ve reached the article [of the text] where we’ll need to give numbers, then the president’s numbers will be our reference,” Agus said.
