Brazil Deforestation Program Could Show Indonesia the Way

Fidelis E Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 18 Nov 09;

Sao Paolo. A deforestation program in Brazil that attempts to balance development and conservation could show Indonesia the way forward on climate change.

Indonesia and Brazil are among the world’s top 10 greenhouse gas emitters — mainly through the loss of rain forests and woodland fires.

Experts say halting deforestation is as powerful a way to combat warming as closing the world’s coal-fired power plants.

Last month marked the creation of the Indonesian Climate Change Trust Fund, a sprawling program aimed at combating all aspects of climate change.

However, unlike the Amazon Fund, the equivalent mechanism in Brazil, the Indonesian program appears poorly planned and poorly funded.

Sergio Weguelin, chief of the environmental affairs at the Brazilian Development Bank, said the Amazon Fund would only be replenished if Brazil proves it has reduced deforestation.

“The Amazon Fund operates differently from other conservation funds,” he said. “The fund can only raise money if deforestation is avoided and the possibility to use the funding only exists if Brazil is able to reduce levels of deforestation in the Amazon.”

The international fund was launched by Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva last year to promote alternatives to forest-clearing in the Amazon and support conservation and sustainable development. Brazil aims to raise $21 billion by 2021 and has already received a grant from Norway that could bring the country $1 billion.

The Brazilian Development Bank is in charge of the fund and any project funded by the program must comply with the national climate change plan.

Weguelin noted that the fund was also geared at changing perceptions about rain forests.

“People need that consciousness about the Amazon forests, that they have a huge potential to provide livelihoods for everyone without people illegally logging trees in the forests,” he said.

“Many projects funded by the Amazon Fund would increase the welfare of the people living in the Amazon and outside of it.”

Indonesia — the world’s third biggest greenhouse gas emitter — will head to the highly anticipated UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen next month having vowed to cut emissions by at least a quarter of current levels by 2020.

The government has earmarked $500 million in the state budget to fight climate change but has not given any specific information about what kind of programs will be developed.

Activists have said the country is more than capable of funding its efforts to adapt to climate change, but that the government should be mindful of how the funds are spent.

Giorgio Budi Indrato, coordinator of the Civil Society Forum for Climate Justice, said the ICCTF could work if government sectors were on the same page in understanding that the fund behaves as the financing mechanism for climate change issues.

“It is still a far cry from the Brazilian government’s climate change plans. There is no clarity on the mechanism,” he said.

Giorgio said there needed to be greater disclosure with the government’s plans.

“The other issue is accountability. The Amazon Fund is transparent about where the money will go. The same should be for the ICCTF.”