Activists cast doubt on Indonesia's vow to cut emissions

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 6 Mar 10;

Activists have cast doubt over the government's commitment to slash emissions to help combat climate change as required action plans have not yet been finished, five months after their announcement.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in September announced plans to voluntarily cut emissions by 26 percent by 2020 using the national budget with the formal letter submitted to the United Nation office in January.

Officials said the action plan document on emissions cuts was expected to be finished next month.

"It shows the government's lack of leadership in coordinating sectors to meet the targets," executive director of the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) Berry Forgan told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

"Ideally, details of action plans on how to slash the emissions should be finished before making any commitment to the international community."

The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) said that discussions were underway to officially define the nation's forests.

Director of forest and water resources conservation at Bappenas, Basah Hernowo, said that estimations of the emissions cuts budget had also not yet been calculated.

"We hope that President Yudhoyono can sign the document in April," Basah said.

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requires each country to submit detailed action plans on how they plan to meet their pledged targets.

The documents should explain in detail where emissions cuts projects would take place and which sector would responsible for it.

Basah said that the targets would be set in seven sectors, including deforestation, peat land, sustainable energy sources, energy efficiency, public transport and waste management.

Officials at the State Environment Ministry earlier said that Indonesia would allocate Rp 83 trillion (US$8.98 billion) to cut 767 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) to meet the 26 percent pledge.

If developed nations provide Rp 168 trillion in assistance, Indonesia could slash its emissions by up to 41 percent.

Special assistant on climate change to President Yudhoyono, Agus Purnomo, earlier said the document was almost finished and was waiting for a presidential decree.

Berry has also questioned the government's commitment to protect the forest to reduce emissions with the signing of a new bill this week that puts protected and conservation forests at risk of being rebranded as commercial forests.

"We have warned the government to not focus only on image building in the international arena," he said.

Indonesia was one of the first developing countries to pledge to slash emissions when rich nations were reluctant to make similar commits.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, only rich countries were bound to reduce their emissions by 5 percent by 2012.

At the recent Copenhagen climate conference, rich nations rejected calls to set binding emissions reduction targets of between 25 and 40 percent.

Director of Climate change and energy at WWF Indonesia Fitrian Ardiansyah warned that Indonesia could be left behind by other developing countries in managing its climate budget if it has still not yet finished its action plan.

He said the President should clarify which office is responsible for organizing the emissions cuts targets.