Fidelis E Satriastanti & Arti Ekawati Jakarta Globe 2 Jun 10;
The two-year moratorium on the conversion of natural forests and peatland announced last week appears to be the much-needed action activists have been demanding for decades, but as with most other things, its ultimate success will lie in its implementation.
The moratorium is part of an agreement signed by Jakarta and Oslo last week. Under the terms of the deal, Norway will grant Indonesia $1 billion in exchange for preserving its forests through the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus mechanism. The mechanism not only covers deforestation and forest degradation but includes conservation, sustainable forest management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
The two-year moratorium, which is set to begin in January 2011, is designed to strengthen Indonesia’s voluntary pledge to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2020. In 2014, Norway will verify whether the moratorium has managed to reduce emissions, and if so, the bulk of the grant will be released.
However, there are a lot of details left to be worked out. For example, it is still not clear whether the moratorium will be implemented nationwide or only in certain areas, pending the issuance of a presidential decree or regulation making the commitment into a law.
Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan has said that only five areas would be proposed as pilot projects under the agreement — the Kampar Peninsula in Riau province, Papua, East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and Bengkulu, in Sumatra.
“Those five regions will be forwarded to Oslo to determine which areas are suitable as pilot projects for REDD-Plus,” Zulkifli said. “I prefer Kampar because it has a very large peatland area of 700,000 hectares.”
But it is still unclear even what areas qualify under the deal. The agreement so far does not distinguish between different qualities of peatland.
Existing regulations classify peatland as “high quality” if it is more than three meters deep, but an official from the State Ministry for the Environment said peatland less than one meter deep could still be converted.
In addition, the question of what the government will do with existing permits that have yet to take effect has not been fully addressed.
Agus Purnomo, the president’s special adviser on the environment, said companies with existing licenses on high-quality forests and peatland that had already initiated work on their concessions could continue, while those that had not yet started work must relocate, but would be compensated with permits for other sites.
Yuyun Indradi, a political campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said the government would need to practice caution while carrying out that plan.
“The government needs to be careful because it could end up compensating companies that are violating their permits,” he said. “Don’t just look at the quality of peatland, for instance, but also at how [the company] managed to secure its permit.”
Meanwhile, the 1.2-millionhectare Merauke food estate in Papua, meant to shore up Indonesia’s food supply, calls for the conversion of huge swaths of land, though it is meant to benefit the public. Agus said previously that the government would avoid allocating peatland to the estate, but where the massive project will get the land it requires is still unclear.
Agustinus Rumansara, a Papuan native and expert on low-carbon development, said the province welcomed the moratorium and would support it. But with regard to Merauke, he said “it’s the central government’s program, not provincial, and we haven’t heard details on where they want to do the project, considering the spatial planning is still not clear.”
Environmentalists have asked whether the government would let the moratorium stand in for further conservation efforts, or use it as a jumping-off point for more action.
“It’s great,” Yuyun said, “but to us, it’s still not enough. It should also be about fixing the dysfunctional components of the forestry sector, from the system of governance to spatial planning, permits, procedures and interdepartmental relations.”
