Fidelis E Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 9 Dec 09;
Though President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sparked controversy with his vague pledge at the G-20 Summit in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26 percent by 2020, environmentalists said on Wednesday they believed the target was achievable — at least on paper.
On Sept. 25, during the summit in Pittsburgh, Yudhoyono said the country’s emission reductions could reach 41 percent if international assistance was offered.
The pledges were initially greeted with skepticism given the lack of detail contained in Yudhoyono’s speech. Rachmat Witoelar, the state minister for the environment at the time, later filled in the details, saying the cuts would be generated from two sectors. He said 17 percent of the reductions would come from the energy sector through energy efficiency and renewable energy, and 9 percent from the forestry sector through a reduction in illegal logging, forest fires and better peatland management.
Within two months, however, those figures had changed, with newly installed State Minister for the Environment Gusti Muhammad Hatta saying that 14 percent of the emission reductions would come from the forestry sector through reforestation programs and the reduction of deforestation and degradation, 6 percent from the energy sector through energy management and 6 percent through waste management schemes.
Yus Rusila Noor, senior program officer for Wetlands International’s office in Indonesia, said it appeared the initial targets were calculated too quickly, given that they were later revised.
“In theory, however, in the forestry sector, it can easily be achieved through peatland management,” Yus said.
According to data from the National Council on Climate Change, peatland contributed 1.0 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2005, with a reduction potential of 700 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year by 2030.
Yus said such a reduction would mean a greater than 50 percent reduction in emissions in the sector, making the 14 percent overall target realistic.
“However, this can only be achieved if these targets are listed as national targets and are included in government policy. We can’t just leave the targets in the hands of the State Ministry for the Environment and the Ministry of Forestry.”
Yus said the management of the country’s peatland needed to be addressed, with a focus on rehabilitating peatland that had been drained for use as plantations. He said non-forested peatland released more carbon than forested peatland.
“It is important to ensure the reforestation [of peatland] but it will be in vain if we don’t shut off the canals [that channel water out from peatlands],” he said.
Yus cited the government’s efforts to close down canals at former Mega Rice Project areas in Central Kalimantan, an ambitious Suharto-era project that was abandoned before it could achieve its goal of turning one million hectares of peatland into rice fields.
Award-winning environmental campaigner Yuyun Ismawati, director of the BaliFokus foundation, said a 6 percent reduction in emissions through improved waste management was not difficult, but would take at least five years to achieve.
Furthermore, she said, the establishment of sanitary landfills in the country would attract investors, particularly for carbon investments through the Clean Development Mechanism.
“It is actually a lot cheaper and easier to implement than investment in the forestry sector [which is more complicated in terms of technology and conflict over land],” she said. “With an investment of Rp 3 billion [$318,000] for the basic infrastructure these sanitary landfills could potentially reduce carbon [emissions] by at least 60,000 tons per year, and with the addition of an extra Rp 1.5 billion they could obtain carbon credits.”
