Proyek Reduksi Emisi Tidak Terkoordinasi

Sumber : Kompas – 19 Desember 2011

Beberapa aktivitas program reduksi emisi dari sektor kehutanan di Kalimantan Tengah, yang menjadi lokasi proyek percontohan nasional, belum terkoordinasi. Setidaknya ada tujuh program, yang disebut dengan aktivitas demonstrasi, di wilayah Kalteng.

Kondisi itu mengemuka pada Reduksi Emisi dari Deforestasi dan Degradasi (REDD)+ Retreat yang digelar Kementerian Kehutanan di Palangkaraya, 16-17 Desember 2011. ”Siapa saja, di mana saja, dan apa saja yang dilakukan dalam proyek-proyek itu tidak terpantau dengan baik,” kata Liaison Officer REDD+ Kementerian Kehutanan di Kalimantan Tengah Jansen Tangketasik di Palangkaraya, Sabtu (17/12).

Program REDD+ merupakan mekanisme di bawah Protokol Kyoto yang memungkinkan negara-negara pemilik hutan memperoleh pendanaan dari negara-negara maju yang diwajibkan menurunkan emisi gas rumah kaca (GRK) penyebab pemanasan global. Dana diberikan dalam persiapan program ataupun ketika program sudah disepakati, yakni memastikan kondisi hutan tetap lestari sehingga menyerap dan menyimpan karbon dioksida, salah satu unsur pembentuk GRK.

Setidaknya ada tujuh aktivitas demonstrasi di Kalteng yang semuanya melibatkan donor asing, di antaranya kerja sama Indonesia-Australia, WWF Indonesia, Starling Resources, McKinsey & Co, dan Clinton Climate Foundation.

Minimnya koordinasi antarproyek persiapan REDD+ juga disebutkan Koordinator Pemerintah Australia dalam program Indonesia-Australia Forest Carbon Partnership (IAFCP) Hanafi Guciano. ”Progres program- program di Kalteng tidak terpantau,” katanya.

IAFCP mengalokasikan hibah 100 juta dollar Australia untuk persiapan program REDD+ di Indonesia, yang sebagian besar di antaranya dikucurkan untuk mendanai sejumlah proyek di Kalimantan. Ia berharap ada semacam clearing house yang menyediakan segala informasi terkait dengan proyek-proyek di Kalteng.

Menurut Jansen, keberadaan informasi ”satu pintu” atas semua proyek persiapan REDD+ di Kalimantan Tengah sangat dibutuhkan. Selain menghindari tumpang tindih proyek, hasil-hasil aktivitas di lapangan pun sangat bermanfaat saat REDD+ diterapkan.

Sebaliknya, tanpa ada clearing house atau informasi ”satu pintu”, Pemerintah Indonesia tidak akan memperoleh informasi penting dan berharga. Sebab, informasi-informasi hasil penelitian lapangan, seperti potensi serapan karbon dari hutan dan lahan gambut serta paparan emisi karbon per hektar, tidak tersedia di dalam negeri.

Kesiapan Kalteng

Pemerintah Provinsi Kalteng awal 2011 meresmikan Sekretariat Komisi Daerah REDD+. Sekretariat itu diharapkan menangani berbagai rencana terkait dengan program REDD+ berkoordinasi dengan Satuan Tugas REDD+ di tingkat nasional.

”Komisi daerah REDD+ ini menjadi pintu masuk dan keluar segala hal terkait dengan proyek di Kalteng,” kata Kepala Badan Lingkungan Hidup Daerah Kalteng Mursid Marsono.

Namun, efektivitas kerja Komisi Daerah REDD+ Kalteng masih butuh diperkuat. Salah satu indikasinya, progres beberapa aktivitas demonstrasi di Kalteng belum terpantau.

Kepala Pusat Kerja Sama Luar Negeri Kementerian Kehutanan Agus Sarsisto mengatakan, berbagai proyek persiapan REDD+ dibutuhkan Indonesia. Berbagai persiapan itu akan menjadikan Indonesia sebagai salah satu dari beberapa negara yang akan menerima manfaat sejak awal apabila nantinya REDD+ benar-benar disepakati dunia untuk diterapkan. (GSA)

Link : http://nasional.kompas.com/read/2011/12/19/03144319/proyek.reduksi.emisi.tidak.terkoordinasi

Puluhan Miliar Dana Hutan Menganggur

Sumber : Kompas – 17 Desember 2011
Oleh Gesit Ariyanto | Marcus Suprihadi |

Hampir Rp 40 miliar dana untuk melindungi hutan dari penggundulan dan degradasi menunggu diakses. Dana itu disebut dana kebijakan yng disediakan pemerintah Australia dalam skema Indonesia-Australia Forest Carbon Partnership (IAFCP). Jumlah persisnya 4,3 juta dollar Australia.

Syarat utama mengakses dana itu harus terkait program Reduksi Emisi dari Deforestasi dan Degradasi Hutan atau REDD+. “Asalkan memenuhi syarat, kami akan berikan dana untuk proyek di seluruh Indonesia. Tak hanya untuk Kalimantan saja,” kata Koordinator Pemerintah Australia untuk IAFCP Hanafi Guciano pada REDD Plus Retreat di Palangkaraya, Kalimantan Tengah, Sabtu (17/12/2011).

REDD merupakan program pengurangan emisi dari sektor kehutanan untuk mengurangi paparan polutan di atmosfer penyebab pemanasan global.

Siapa saja bisa mengakses dana itu, mulai dari kalangan perguruan tinggi, LSM, hingga pemerintah. “Misalnya, untuk mendanai upaya sinkronisasi kebijakan, membangun pusat informasi proyek, atau identifikasi persoalan lain,” kata Hanafi.

Penggunaan dana itu, di antaranya diharapkan dapat memastikan masyarakat sekitar hutan terjamin memperoleh manfaat dari penerapan program REDD+.

Menurut Kepala Pusat Kerja Sama Luar Negeri Kementerian Kehutanan Agus Sarsito, Indonesia harus memanfaatkan berbagai peluang pendanaan untuk menyiapkan mekanisme REDD+, sebelum benar-benar diterapkan. “Agar Indonesia menjadi di antara yng pertama memperoleh manfaat dari REDD+,” kata dia.

Link : http://sains.kompas.com/read/2011/12/17/16362584/Puluhan.Miliar.Dana.Hutan.Menganggur

Taman Nasional Sebangau Diharapkan Bisa Jadi Kawasan REDD

Sumber : Media Indonesia – 17 Desember 2011
Oleh Thalita

Taman Nasional (TN) Sebangau ini sudah mengurus REDD sejak Maret 2011 lalu.

Hal tersebut dikemukakan Kepala Balai TN Sebangau, Hariyadi, disela-sela acara REDD-Plus Retreat yang diadakan Pusat Kerjasama Luar Negeri Kementerian Kehutanan, di Palangkaraya, Kalimantan Tengah, Jumat kemarin (16/12).

“Taman Nasional ini sudah mengurus REDD dari Maret 2011 lalu. Sekarang, sudah berada di Pusat,” kata Hariyadi.

Ia mengatakan, TN Sebangau mempunyai peranan penting terhadap lahan gambut. Karena secara geologi, lahan gambut adalah tempat bermukimnya batu bara muda.

Artinya, gambut merupakan awal mula batu bara dibentuk. Jadi, ketika musim kemarau menyengat, gambut akan mudah sekali terbakar. Apalagi jika lahan gambut tersebut kering, tak terendam air. Kondisi ini sangat mudah menimbulkan kebakaran. Kebakaran yang terjadi pada lahan gambut inilah kontributor terbesar bagi emisi karbon Indonesia.

“Kebakaran memang sering terjadi. Oleh karena itu, kita juga melakukan komunikasi dengan DAOP (Daerah Operasi) Palangkaraya dan Masyarakat,” papar Hariyadi.

Ia memaparkan, cara mencegah kebakaran pada lahan gambut adalah dengan menjaga lahan tersebut tidak kering kerontang. Terutama, kubah gambutnya, jangan sampai kering kerontang. Eksistensi lahan gambut memang terbilang unik. Di musim kering, gambut berfungsi seperti spons yang menyerap air. Dengan demikian, gambut akan mampu mempertahankan persediaan airnya.

Menurut data dari Dewan Nasional Perubahan Iklim (DNPI) tahun 2010, 41% dari emisi karbon Indonesia saat ini berasal dari oksidasi lahan gambut. Oleh karena itu, pengelola TN Sebangau melakukan beberapa cara agar lahan gambut mampu mempertahankan persediaan airnya. Hariyadi menjelaskan, pertama, dengan cara membuat DAM (Bendungan). “Sekarang sudah ada 428 DAM di TN Sebangau ini,” jelasnya.

Ia melanjutkan, kedua, memasang tabat (canal blocking) di beberapa kanal. “Sudah ada lima canal blocking di TN ini sekarang,” ungkapnya. Ketiga, melakukan reboisasi. Reboisasi merupakan salah satu usaha dalam memulihkan ekosistem. “Melakukan penanaman di daerah-daerah yang harus ditanam. Agar tidak terjadi kebakaran lagi,” ujar Hariyadi.(*/X-12)

Link : http://www.mediaindonesia.com/read/2011/12/17/284863/89/14/Taman-Nasional-Sebangau-Diharapkan-Bisa-Jadi-Kawasan-REDD

Pemahaman Tentang REED Belum Seragam

Sumber : Antara – 17 Desember 2011

Pemahaman tentang upaya pengurangan emisi gas rumah kaca dari deforestasi dan degradasi hutan (REDD) masih beragam baik di tingkat pemerintah, pelaku usaha maupun masyarakat, sehingga perlu komunikasi dan sosialisasi yang intensif agar tercapai kesepahaman.

“Pemahaman tentang REDD, baik dalam hal cakupan hutan, metoda perhitungan (accounting), penetapan level emisi (REL/RE) maupun sistem evaluasi dan pengawasan (MRV), masih beragam, sehingga masih perlu sosialisasi yang intensif,” kata Sekretaris Pokja LULUCF Dewan Nasional Perubahan Iklim (DNPI) Doddy S Sukadri.

Ia mengatakan hal itu dalam diskusi mengenai persiapan negosiasi dan implementasi REDD Plus di Palangka Raya, Sabtu.

Selain masalah pemahaman itu, katanya, regulasi yang ada juga tidak mampu mengimbangi perkembangan berbagai inisiatif dalam hal implementasi REDD, terutama inisiatif yang bersifat sukarela (voluntary) dari berbagai kalangan, baik dunia usaha maupun pribadi, padahal potensinya cukup besar.

“Saat ini ada 30-40 kegiatan terkait REDD bersifat sukarela yang belum ada regulasi, sehingga terhambat impelemtasinya,” katanya dalam diskusi yang dihadiri para pemangku kepentingan baik dari kalangan pemerintah, lembaga swadaya dan masyarakat tersebut.

Hal senada diutarakan pembicara lain dalam diskusi itu, Hanafi, bahwa pemerintah harus memikirkan dan memberi jalan bagi masuknya dana-dana swasta dalam pendanaan REDD, dengan cara menyiapkan infrastruktur pasar yang mendukung.

“Potensi swasta besar, dan hal itu harus difasilitasi,” katanya.

Hal lain yang mengemuka dalam diskusi itu yakni tidak adanya koordinasi dalam implementasi REDD yang berjalan selama ini. Hanafi memberi contoh, ada tujuh program REDD yang berjalan selama ini di Kalimantan Tengah, namun Pemerintah Provinsi Kalimantan Tengah tidak mengetahui perkembangan masing-masing program.

“Belajar dari pengalaman ini, perlu ada lembaga semacam pusat informasi atau clearing house, sehingga data lokasi REDD dan perkembangan kegiatan terkontrol. Selanjutnya program yang sudah ada bisa dijadikan model di tempat lain,” katanya.

Doddy mengingatkan bahwa Indonesia merupakan negara yang paling maju dalam menuju implementasi REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), namun tidak diimbangi kelembagaan yang memadai termasukn kapasitas sumberdaya manusianya.

“Maka diperlukan percepatan pembentukan kelembagaan REDD yang independen dan kredibel,” katanya.

REDD Plus yakni perluasan REDD hingga mencakup kawasan hutan masyarakat dan kawasan lain yang sesuai, sudah menjadi kebijakan Pemerintah dalam upaya menyelamatkan hutan Indonesia dan sekaligus tulang punggung penurunan emisi gas rumah kaca (GRK), maka semua pihak diharapkan mendukung implementasi REDD Plus tersebut.

Provinsi Kalimantan Tengah (Kalteng) dengan luas sekitar 15 juta ha, terdiri dari sekitar 10 juta ha hutan, merupakan percontohan program REDD Plus.

Dari seluruh areal hutan di Kalteng terdapat areal gambut sekitar 3 juta ha. Areal gambut tersebut mengalami degradasi karena berbagai hal antara lain pembalakan liar dan proyek lahan sejuta hektare pada masa pemerintahan Soeharto.

Untuk Indonesia, kawasan hutan termasuk areal gambut, merupakan sumber emisi gas rumah kaca terbesar. Deforestasi dan pembakaran hutan dan areal gambut sangat berperan dalam emisi GRk, sehingga rehabilitasi hutan dan lahan gambut menjadi sangat sentral dalam kerangka REDD. (B012/Z002)

Editor: B Kunto Wibisono

Link : http://www.antaranews.com/berita/289354/pemahaman-tentang-reed-belum-seragam

Running Out of Time, Again

Source : The Jakarta Globe- December 19, 2011
By Agus Purnomo & Yani Saloh

The UN climate change conference in Durban, South Africa, ended with an extension of the Kyoto Protocol and a commitment to put a new arrangement in placeby 2015 and in force from 2020. An extra two days of negotiations were worth the effort, as finally the world agreed that both poor and rich countries should cut their greenhouse gas emissions under a global pact with “legal force.” This is a big achievement for climate negotiations.

The Durban outcome was a product of compromise, especially for the world’s largest emitters, China and the United States. For some this is historic, for othersdisappointing.

Some see the Durban agreement as still benefitting developed nations. The youth and civil society contingent at the summit loudly demanded that their leaders listen to the people rather than to polluters. Many leaders proclaimed that they had acted to save future generations. In reality, however, this is far from true.

Indonesia’s delegation head, Rachmat Witoelar, said it was our moral obligation to ensure that the world did not suffer from a climate crisis. The world has to work together to achieve global solutions to address climate problems with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

Developed countries should take moral responsibility for the historic emissions they released as their economies grew, and because poor nations will suffer most from climate catastrophe. In climate negotiations, rich nations tend to dictate the economic growth of poor nations, which are aiming to grow their economies as
developed nations have.

Indonesia has been consistent with its prior statements after becoming, at the G-20 conference in Pittsburgh in 2009, the first developing country to pledge voluntary commitments to reduce emissions. In the past year, at least six policies were issued by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to adjust regulations in line with
national emissions reduction targets.

What has Indonesia received for this? Mostly criticism from local and international NGOs, as well as its own legislature and the private sector, mainly for decisions that are considered damaging to the economy or, on the contrary, deemed insufficient to fulfill the country’s commitments.

What did developed countries do? Not much but hide behind their economic and political reasons, or the global financial crisis. It is tough to find justice in the climate regime if richer countries dictate that developing countries curb their economic growth while rich countries will not change their attitudes.

China, in tandem with India, insisted that richer countries act faster to curb emissions. At the same time, developing countries need to reduce poverty and raise living standards. Developing countries expect assistance, both financial and technical, from developed countries to achieve growth through low-carbon economic
development.

Compromise in the global climate regime is difficult to achieve, as intrigues and vested interests abound. A “fast-start fund,” promised in Copenhagen two years ago as part of a long-term Green Climate Fund financing scheme, has been slow to take shape. The distribution of a $30 billion green fund to developing countries was
blocked by the United States. The US negotiator in Durban cited inadequate transparency of its governance as the reason.

A global climate plan should not be about money “begged for” by developing countries, but about morality and justice for the climate. As for Indonesia, the $1 billion the country is receiving as part of a deal with Norway to reduce emissions from deforestation is nothing compared with the revenue that Indonesia could earn from
forestry, mining and agriculture in forested areas. What Indonesia sacrifices is an example of following through on a moral obligation.

In the global arena, Indonesia’s forests play an important role in a climate change solution. Indonesia has the opportunity to cut down its forests, to convert the land into food-producing farms to feed global demand — or to implement REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) schemes as a way to achieve productivity without cutting down the trees. But if recent history is any guide, money doesn’t, as they say, grow on trees. The province of Aceh has had a moratorium on logging for more than four years, but has still received no REDD money to compensate for its efforts.

The president has shown his leadership and courage to inform the world that Indonesians are willing to be part of global climate solutions by protecting their forests and peatlands. In September, Yudhoyono reiterated his commitment to protect Indonesia’s remaining forests during the final three years of his presidency.

The Durban climate talks ended with agreements to work toward a legally enforceable deal by all countries, to go into effect by 2020, and to work toward identifying a global goal for substantially reducing global emissions by 2050. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, stated that we are running out of time. The truth is that 2015 or 2020 are already too late, and action should have started a long time ago.

If Indonesia, as a developing country, is brave enough to declare its commitments, where are the developed countries? We need leadership from developed countries that are brave enough to say: “Let’s do it, for the sake of all.” Agus Purnomo is special adviser to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on climate
change. Yani Saloh is Agus’s assistant.

Link : http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/commentary/running-out-of-time-again/485224

WALHI Kecam Kanada yang Keluar dari Protokol Kyoto

Sumber : Waspada – 16 Desember 2011
Oleh Hendro Koto

Direktur Ekeskutif Nasional Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (Walhi) Berry Nahdian Porkan mengecam keras sikap dari Pemerintah Kanada yang menyatakan diri keluar dari kesepakakan yang termuat dalam Protokol Kyoto. Hal ini disampaikannya hari ini, Rabu di Jakarta.

“ Keluarnya Kanada dari kesepakatan Kyoto memperlihatkan bahwa negara-negara maju tidak memiliki itikad baik dalam penyelamatan lingkungan khususunya dari pengurangan emisi Gas Rumah Kaca (GRK)” tegasnya.

Sikap buruk yang diperlihatkan oleh Pemerintah Kanada tersebut justru akan semakin mendorong negara-negara maju lainnya seperti jepang, francis untuk juga keluar dari kesepakatan ini, dan tentunya hal ini akan berdampak buruk bagi negara-negara berkembang yang selama ini menjadi diwajibkan untuk menjaga hutan dan alamnya tanpa mendapatkan skema bantuan dari negara-negara maju sesuai dengan kesepakatan Kyoto.

Untuk itu Berry meminta kepada Pemerintah Indonesia untuk tampil kedepan dengan memobilisasi negara-negara di Asia Tenggara dan juga Afrika yang memiliki hutan untuk mendesak dan negara-negara maju, dan jika perlu memberikan sanksi politik ataupun bentuk sanksi lainnya kepada negara maju jika negara tersebut tidak memiliiki komitmen yang kuat dalam pengurangan emisi GRK. “ Indonesia harus tampil dan leading untuk mempimpin upaya ini, isu dan momentum ini harus dapat dimanfaat oleh Indonesia seperti saat presiden Sukarno membuat KTT Non Blok guna menekan negara-negara maju untuk tidak mau menang sendiri” tandasnya.

Sementara itu Direktur Walhi Aceh TM Zulfikar berpandangan bahwa sikap yang diperlihatkan oleh Pemerintah Kanada membuktikan b ahwa negara-negara maju tidak pernah serius dan lebih bersikap plin-plan dalam isu penyelamatan bumi dari emisi GRK. “ Kami sangat menyesalkan sikap tersebut, dan sekali lagi ini membuktikan bahwa negara-negara berkembang sangat mudah ditekan dan didikte oleh negara-negara maju dalam isu apapun, dan untuk itu negara-negara berkembang harus solid dan mempersatukan diri guna melawan hegemoni dari negara-negara maju tersebut” ungkapnya

TM Zulfikar juga meminta kepada Gubernur Aceh untuk membawa persoalan isu mundurnya Kanada dari Protokol Kyoto kedalam pertemuan Governoor Climat Change Forum (GCF) dan jika memang dibutuhkan untuk segara membawa persoalan ini kewilayah yang lebih tinggi yakni Forum Perserikatan Bangsa-bangsa.

Editor: PRAWIRA SETIABUDI

Link : http://www.waspada.co.id/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=227230:walhi-kecam-kanada-yang-keluar-dari-protokol-kyoto&catid=13:aceh&Itemid=26

Indonesia Leads International Drive to Promote REDD+

Source : Eco News- December 16, 2011
By Hayden Clarke

Indonesia’s plan is to inject around US$1 billion-worth of funding from Norway under the REDD+ agreement.

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) emphasised that these official deals were a peripheral goal at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP17) in Durban last week.

Kalimantan’s forests have been subjected to chronic deforestation for harvesting of coffee and palm oil and the United Nations (UN) in partnership with the National REDD+ Task Force has researched the damage caused.

Supported by UNEP and other stakeholders, the research points out that land misuse comes at a cost to other productive sectors such as mining, fisheries and the livelihoods of local people as well as challenging Indonesia’s biodiversity including the iconic orang-utan.

Deforestation in the upper areas of Kalimantan’s river systems are susceptible to slower currents, with levels running low during warmer months. This makes barges, carrying mining ores, difficult to operate.

The Indonesian government and partners estimate ore-freighting by road is six times more expensive, compared to using barges. Their calculations do not include environmental impact, like logistical issues including road maintenance and vehicle expenses.

As part of its REDD+ Program, the Indonesian government is resisting any reason to clear virgin forest by choosing degraded lands to plant palm oil and other crops.

Many developed-country governments have embraced the ambition of developing-countries to join the private sector on endorsing such environmental protection measures.

These are to reduce emissions effecting forests and still allow for a comfortable transition to a low carbon, resource efficient Green economy.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, explains that, “REDD+ explicitly addresses the need for a balance between income growth, jobs and social equity.

“Mobilising more partnerships such as that between Norway and Indonesia, or private sector funding is vital if the full potential of forests to contribute to a Green Economy is to be realised.”

A WWF initiative, the Heart of Borneo strategy, aims to create a network of protected forest areas, in an effort to protect biodiversity.

“With just over six months until the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Brazil, countries ranging from Indonesia to Brazil and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are recognising that REDD+ investments can offer myriad opportunities to boost green development in the 21st Century, through optimising and enhancing ecosystem services, tackling climate change, improving water security or promoting green jobs.”

Dr Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, is the Head of the President’s Delivery Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight and the Chair of the National REDD+ Task Force of the Republic of Indonesia. He believes, “A green economy transition is worth pursuing not only because it is the best way forward, but also for what it does to bring millions of people out of poverty while conserving their ecosystems, improving their lives and enhancing their livelihood opportunities”, said.

Norway’s Environment and International Development minister, Mr. Erik Solheim, argues that, “Efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation can only succeed as part of broader, green growth strategies that offer economic growth and low emission solutions for energy, agriculture and forests. Indonesia is very well positioned for success in this regard and I am pleased that Central Kalimantan is committed to demonstrate how this can be done.”

Overall the REDD+ funding, backed by smart public policies and both direct foreign investment and private sector funding, should assist Indonesia in its stated aims of realising seven per cent GDP growth a year by 2014; reducing unemployment to between five and six per cent and achieving a 26 to 41 per cent reduction in the emissions of greenhouse gases by 2020.

UNEP and other UN agencies have been requested to advise on a number of areas for intervention in Kalimantan, which would help realise multiple benefits from REDD+ for these stated goals.

Link : http://econews.com.au/news-to-sustain-our-world/indonesia-leads-international-drive-to-promote-redd/

Mixed Results from Durban Climate Talks for Indonesia

Source : Jakarta Post – December 16, 2011
By Fitrian Ardiansyah

Agreements achieved in the early morning of Dec. 11 in Durban, South Africa, not only appeared to salvage the UN climate talks but have also raised further questions about the commitments and capabilities of countries around the world in urgently tackling climate change.

After two weeks and more than a day extension of difficult negotiations, governments involved in the 17th session of the Conference of Parties (COP-17) agreed to extend the Kyoto Protocol and to negotiate a binding agreement for all countries to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

These agreements, known as the “Durban Platform”, also include the implementation of the Green Climate Fund, establishment of the Adaptation Committee, and further development of REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation).

The results of Durban climate negotiations need to be cautiously analyzed since they have potentially different implications for the planet and developing countries like Indonesia.

For Indonesia, it is crucial if negotiations in Durban resulted in decisions which clearly translate into or present strong signals leading to global actions to cut GHG emissions and to financially and technologically support actions on mitigation and adaptation in developing countries.

Developing countries in Durban, for instance, managed to get developed countries to agree to the inclusion of a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, which will commence in January 2013, in the “Durban Platform”.

This result will definitely avoid a gap at the end of the first commitment period of the Protocol, ending in 2012.

The Protocol, having set binding targets for 37 developed countries to reduce GHG emissions to 5 percent below the 1990 levels by 2012, however, may lose its significance in the second period since some countries such as Canada, Japan and Russia were reportedly unwilling to take part.

With the US still opting out of the Protocol, it is likely that the Protocol will only achieve small reductions of GHG emissions.

This situation apparently justifies the importance of another agreed decision, as included in the “Durban Platform”, which is to have a roadmap to negotiate a new global treaty covering all countries to reduce GHG emissions.

The negotiations for this treaty are expected to be concluded by 2015 and the treaty will come into force from 2020.

Many climate analysts, nevertheless, are not convinced with the possible directions of this particular agreement.

Although covering both developed and developing countries, including Indonesia, the projected emissions resulting from this possible treaty — calculated based on the current pledges made by these countries since Copenhagen COP-15 in 2009 — may likely lead to a global average temperature rise of more than 3.5 degrees Celsius.

This means that the future of people living on this planet, particularly in vulnerable countries like Indonesia, is at stake. The economy and many aspects of human civilization are threatened.

Therefore, there is a need for serious new commitments and actions to address the “emissions gap” so that the planned treaty can effectively tackle climate change.

As of Durban, there were no new pledges for stronger emissions reductions.

In addition, waiting until 2020 for the treaty to take effect may also be too late. There is a huge risk that by that time, the limit of emissions in the atmosphere has been reached so that actions to stabilize the climate are next to impossible and too expensive.

Another perceived crucial agreement incorporated in the “Durban Platform” is a formal structure of the Green Climate Fund and a work plan to operate it by mobilizing funds from both private and public sources.

A number of countries signaled their readiness to contribute to the Fund but realizing the promise may prove to be a daunting task.

The global financial crisis was often cited as the reason behind the difficult negotiations and realization on finance.

This situation, hence, has left many unanswered questions for developing countries to fight climate change since the Fund is supposed to be used to support policies and actions in these countries.

Also, the negotiations on finance, specifically on the Green Climate Fund, have not resulted in the establishment of a specific window for REDD+. A special window funds for REDD+ at the global level, if agreed, is expected to provide significant support for tropical forest nations, including Indonesia, to advance their REDD+ development at national and local levels.

A decision coming out in Durban which can lead to financial support for REDD+ is the agreement on a variety of sources for financing ranging from public and private finance, as well as market mechanisms.

This decision will not only open the door for new and long-term investments in REDD+ but also at least help ensuring the future of investments already put in place in supporting REDD+ readiness and early actions. Other aspects of REDD+ were also agreed, among others, covering the reference levels and safeguards.

The progress made on the reference levels is necessary since establishing these levels is important not only for determining emission reductions but also as a basis for REDD+ funding mechanisms.

However, the aspect of rules on safeguards in REDD+ decision appears to be weak, especially when it comes to rules on protecting indigenous communities and biodiversity. This may undermine the credibility of REDD+ and make it unattractive in the eyes of investors.

Another positive decision reached in Durban, especially for vulnerable countries like Indonesia, is the establishment of the Adaptation Committee.

This Committee will coordinate adaptation activities on a global scale. The establishment of this Committee has put one of important the components to help developing countries confronting the increasingly dangerous impacts of climate change.

In general, the Durban climate talks have provided mixed results for developing countries like Indonesia. There was some marginal progress made but huge unanswered questions remain.

Political promises and weak agreements will hardly reduce GHG emissions. Only strong decisions and real actions can demonstrate the level of seriousness in addressing climate change.

It is therefore imperative for Indonesia, unilaterally and with other countries, to continue to work hard and show real actions on climate change mitigation and adaptation. Without these actions, the survival of the nation and the fate of the planet will look uncertain and grim.

The writer is a doctoral candidate at the Australian National University, and the recipient of the Australian Leadership Award and Allison Sudradjat Award.

Link : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/12/16/mixed-results-durban-climate-talks-indonesia.html

Indonesia Tetap Dukung Protokol Kyoto

Sumber : Tempo – 15 Desember 2011

Pemerintah Indonesia tetap menyatakan dukungannya terhadap pelaksanaan Protokol Kyoto. Pemerintah tidak terlalu peduli dengan sikap sejumlah negara maju yang justru melangkah mundur dan mengurangi dukungan terhadap upaya pengurangan emisi karbon dunia.”Indonesia tetap berkomitmen menjalankan langkah-langkah menurunkan emisi dan adaptasi terhadap perubahan iklim,” kata Deputi Sumber Daya Alam dan Lingkungan Hidup Bappenas, Endah Murniningtyas, di Hotel Four Seasons, Kamis 15 Desember 2011.

Dalam Konferensi Perubahan Iklim PBB di Durban, Afrika Selatan, yang berakhir pekan lalu, juru runding dari 194 negara sepakat menentukan sebuah perjanjian iklim baru pada 2015 untuk menggantikan Protokol Kyoto yang akan berakhir pada 2012.

Pemerintah memandang pentingnya pengurangan emisi karbon untuk mewujudkan pembangunan dan perekonomian yang lebih bersih. “Ini harus dilakukan karena kondisinya memang demikian. Tidak menunggu negosiasi yang terjadi di luar sana,” ujar Endah.

Ia mensinyalir motivasi sejumlah negara maju yang tak lagi mendukung Protokol Kyoto lantaran tidak ingin rugi secara ekonomi. Sebab, negara-negara maju berasumsi bahwa pengurangan emisi sama artinya dengan mengerem laju perekonomian. “Padahal nanti eranya bukan lagi dagang kayu, tapi dagang udara, dagang karbon,” kata dia

Penurunan emisi karbon menjadi hal penting dan mendasari penyusunan Protokol Kyoto. “Tingginya angka emisi karbon otomatis meningkatkan pemanasan global,”ujar Endah.

Pemanasan global yang berkelanjutan akan dapat mengubah iklim dan cuaca di bumi secara keseluruhan. “Pertanian musim tanam mundur gara-gara curah hujan, nelayan tidak bisa melaut karena anginnya gedhe,” kata Endah.

Sebagai perwujudan bentuk dukungan terhadap Protokol Kyoto, pemerintah pusat menghimbau seluruh pemerintah daerah agar selalu mempersiapkan diri dengan menyusun program-program pembangunan yang selaras dengan semangat anti-pemanasan global. “Kalau nelayan tidak bisa melaut terus dia bagaimana? Maka dia harus bisa dilatih dengan usaha ekonomi alternatif,” kata Endah,”kalau tidak begitu dia enggak bisa makan.”

Endah yakin sikap pemerintah Indonesia bakal mendapat dukungan dan berpengaruh penting bagi kelanjutan pelaksanaan Protokol Kyoto, untuk mewujudkan pembangunan yang lebih bersih. “Seperempat miliar rakyat Indonesia, kalau selamat itu sudah kontribusi pada dunia,” kata dia. MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI

Link : http://www.tempo.co/read/news/2011/12/15/095371935/Indonesia-Tetap-Dukung-Protokol-Kyoto

REDD Advances—Slowly—in Durban

Source : Mongabay – December 15, 2011

By Rhett A. Butler

A program proposed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation made mixed progress during climate talks in Durban. Significant questions remain about financing and safeguards to protect against abuse, say forestry experts.

REDD+ aims to reduce deforestation, forest degradation, and peatland destruction in tropical countries. Here, emissions from land use often exceed emissions from transportation and electricity generation. Under the program, industrialized nations would fund conservation projects and improved forest management.

While REDD+ offers the potential to simultaneously reduce emissions, conserve biodiversity, maintain other ecosystem services, and help alleviate rural poverty, concerns over potential adverse impacts have plagued the program since its conception.

In particular, some worry that REDD could exacerbate existing problems in the forestry sector in developing countries, including corruption and land disputes in places where traditional forest users often lack title. Others say REDD+ could create perverse incentives for converting low carbon landscapes into single-species plantations or even undermine efforts to develop clean energy technologies elsewhere if carbon credits generated from forest conservation activities reduce the overall price of carbon in the market or allow industrialized countries to offset emissions without cutting their own. Still others fear the effectiveness of REDD+ could be thwarted by dodgy accounting standards and the impact of climate change itself, which in some regions appears to be reducing forests’ ability to store carbon. Finally business-as-usual interests, as well as some forest users, are alarmed that REDD+ could limit their options when it comes to exploiting forests.

For these reasons, REDD+ has been the subject of intense discussions since it emerged from the climate conference in Bali, Indonesia in 2007. Supporters hoped talks in Durban this year would resolve some of the final outstanding issues, including financing, safeguards, reference levels for baselines in calculating emissions reductions, and monitoring, reporting and verifying (MRV) of carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

Efforts to address these issues proceeded on two tracks in Durban: the Long-term Cooperative Action (LCA) on financing and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) for everything else. Progress on both tracks was mixed.

Finance

On the finance front, negotiators punted final decisions to a later date, effectively leaving several funding options on the table for REDD+. That means the debate over whether REDD+ funding takes the form of bilateral aid, market-based carbon trading, or something in between will continue at least into 2012. However Andrew Hedges, a partner at the law firm Norton Rose LLP, told Reuters that the decision provided a positive signal to REDD project developers.

“For the private sector interested in long-term reputable investments associated with REDD+ actions, this is a very positive decision,” Hedges was quoted as saying. “It also recognizes that market-based approaches may be developed in coming years.”

Safeguards

Consensus was found on reference levels, enabling countries to propose baseline deforestation levels as a basis for REDD+ payments. Some environmentalists voiced concern that the system could allow countries to inflate projected deforestation levels in order to earn more cash, but the Environmental Defense Fund noted that should a country adjust its reference level, it will “have to justify each adjustment individually to the satisfaction of an expert review panel.”

“This is an important safeguard that will promote environmental integrity,” wrote Gus Silva-Chavez in an EDF blog post.

The REDD+ text also allows accounting of emissions from peatlands degradation, which is thought to account for up to 6 percent of global emissions even though peatlands are limited to only 0.5 percent of Earth’s surface. The inclusion of peatlands means that countries which rehabilitate peatlands could qualify for REDD+ payments, according to Wetlands International.

“This offers great opportunities for reducing the massive CO2 emissions from tropical peatswamp forests worldwide, in particular in Indonesia where peatland drainage and peat fires result in some 900 million tons of CO2 per year; more than the loss of forest vegetation,” said the group in a press release.

There was also agreement on safeguard reporting, although safeguards themselves were weakened. The REDD+ text requires forest countries to submit “qualitative information” on how safeguards were implemented, rather than more rigorous before-and-after data.

Louis Verchot, a climate change scientist at CIFOR, said the decision to limit safeguards was likely to make it easier for tropical countries to meet requirements to access REDD+ funds.

“The feeling among developing countries is that they need to start getting something out of the program and there needs to be fewer hoops to jump through before receiving the promised support,” he said, according to CIFOR’s blog.

But the watered-down safeguards were criticized by green groups.

“The safeguards are a crucial part of REDD+,” said Lars Løvold, Director of Rainforest Foundation Norway, in statement. “They are constructed to ensure that REDD+ not only avoids doing harm, but that it delivers wider social and environmental benefits like protecting indigenous peoples’ rights and biodiversity. The Durban decision is a step backwards from what countries agreed to in Cancun, as they failed to agree on a robust reporting system for how the safeguards are being implemented.”

“The provisions for safeguards in forest conservation are being shredded,” Raja Jarrah, a REDD expert at CARE, told Reuters. “This is bad news for millions of indigenous people and local communities whose livelihoods depend on forests.”
To the further dismay of some, the new text doesn’t specifically preclude conversion of natural landscapes for REDD+ projects or first-time logging of old-growth forests. Experiences with some projects certified under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) — which generates carbon credits for activities that reduce emissions — have made some environmentalists wary that REDD credits could finance industrial tree plantations in place of natural forests.

“Ending deforestation alone – by allowing primary old forests to be so heavily logged and destroyed they become plantations – won’t sustain biodiversity, ecosystems, local people, climate, a steady state economy, or the biosphere,” Glen Barry, an activist who runs Ecological Internet, told mongabay.com. “For continued ecological being, it is essential that we instead fully protect standing, large, connected and ecologically intact primary rainforests and other old forests, and restore old growth from regenerating natural forests.

But John O. Niles, Director of the Tropical Forest Group, said that while there have been problems in the past with Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) projects and drawn-out discussions over REDD are intended to help avoid those pitfalls.

“After COPs, there are always some who say the world has ended; REDD+ will turn into a frenzy of GMO tree-planting that will evict all native people from their forests,” he told mongabay.com. “I don’t subscribe to this alarmist interpretation year in and year out. The reality is what we saw in Durban was international environmental democracy, negotiated by all countries, through consensus. And world governments made progress.”

Furthermore, there are efforts to link REDD finance to safeguards through standards now used in the voluntary carbon market. High quality REDD+ credits carry a premium and present fewer risks to investors.

“No institutional investor wants to buy carbon credits associated with social conflict or conversion of primary forests to monoculture plantations,” said one market participant who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak on behalf of his firm. “The only REDD credits we are going to buy are going to have safeguards and represent real, measurable, permanent and independently verifiable reductions.”

Niles added that although much work is left to be done, talks in Durban represented progress toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“Broadly, the Durban Platform advanced hopes for an eventual deal where all major emitters come under one roof, albeit not now but in several years,” he said. “For REDD+, we see some of the strongest language on safeguards compared to other international agreements. And most important, we finally have the machinery in play to develop credible REDD+ reference levels. Was all this fast enough, strong enough, tough enough? I don’t think so. Are there going to be more fights on safeguards and reference levels and targets in coming years. Absolutely. But what happened in Durban at large and for REDD+ in particular, is significant forward progress. Any one who says otherwise was hoping for a unicorn. We got a rhino.”

Link : http://news.mongabay.com/2011/1214-redd_review_durban.html