Antara 16 Jan 10;
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The United States government was pleased to announce on Friday the start of discussions toward conclusion of a second debt-for-nature agreement under the US Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA) to finance tropical forest conservation.
US Embassy press release said the TFCA authorized reduction and re-direction of certain debt to support tropical forest conservation in eligible development countries.
It said the US Treasury Department had provisionally set aside over US$19 million for the treatment of eligible debt. Initial discussions regarding an agreement began this week in Jakarta between representatives of the US and Indonesian governments.
"This is an important symbol of our partnership with Indonesia on issues of climate change and the environment. It is a practical way we can work together to protect critical forests and mitigate climate change," US Ambassador to Indonesia Cameron R. Hume said.
The first TFCA agreement, signed on June 30, 2009, will reduce Indonesia`s debt payments to the U.S. by nearly US$30 million over eight years.
In return, the Government of Indonesia will commit these funds to support grants to protect and restore tropical forests in Sumatra.
The agreement was the largest debt-for-nature swap under the TFCA thus far and was made possible through contributions of US$20 million by the US Government and a combined donation of US$2 million from Conservation International and the Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation (Yayasan Keanekaragaman Hayati Indonesia, or KEHATI).
To date, 13 countries have entered into debt-for-nature agreements under the TFCA.
Over time, these debt-for-nature programs will together generate over US$218 million to protect tropical forests. (*)
RI, US negotiating second debt-for-nature deal
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 17 Jan 10;
Indonesia and the US are negotiating the second deal in the debt-for-nature scheme to help conserve deteriorating forests in the country and mitigate climate change.
US Ambassador to Indonesia Cameron R. Hume said the debt-for-nature agreement as stipulated under the US Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA), was a practical way to mitigate climate change.
"This is an important symbol of our partnership with Indonesian on issues of the climate change and environment," Cameron said in a statement on Friday.
"It is a practical way we can work together to protect critical forests and mitigate climate change."
The two countries signed the first debt-for-nature deal in June 2009, swapping Indonesia's debt by US$30 million, the first ever biggest under TFCA.
The debt's reduction will be used to conserve around 7 million hectares of degraded forest in Batang Gadis National Park in North Sumatra, Bukit Tigapuluh National Park in Central Sumatra, and Way Kambas National Park in Lampung, in eight years.
Director of forestry and water resources conservation at the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) Basah Hernowo said that negotiations on the deal focused on the amount of debt to be swapped and conservation forest locations.
"There will be another meeting to determine the areas of forest that will be conserved under the scheme," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Basah said that the implementation of the first debt swap deal would be deployed this year.
"Local NGOs will lead in implementing the forest conservation programs," he said.
Basah added that Indonesia had also signed the debt-for-nature deals with the government of Germany, including protecting the forests in the country.
Debt-for-nature swaps are financial transactions where a portion of a developing nations' foreign debt is swapped in exchange for local investments in conservation measures.
The concept was first introduced by the WWF in 1984 as an opportunity to deal with the problems of developing nation indebtedness and its consequent deleterious effect on the environment.
The TFCA was initiated in 1998 to offer eligible developing countries options to relieve certain official debt owed to the US government, while at the same time generating funds in local currency to support tropical forest conservation.
Cameron said further that the US Treasury Department has provisionally set aside over US$19 million for treatment of eligible debt.
It said that to date, 13 countries had entered into debt-for-nature agreements under the TFCA, which was expected to generate $218 million to protect tropical forests. The TCFA was implemented through a bilateral agreement with eligible countries.
Indonesia is the world's third largest forest nation with 120 million hectares of tropical forest.
The high deforestation rate and forest degradation in Indonesia has been blamed as the main contributor to the country's greenhouse gas emissions.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that the forest contributed about 20 percent of global carbon emissions causing global warming.
A number of countries, including the US, Germany and Australia have provided huge dollars to Indonesia to help protect forests.
The Australian government for example, has channeled A$70 million to develop emission cut reduction projects, reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) in Kalimantan.
Australia is expected to launch the second REDD project in Jambi this month.
