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| The Indonesian government has ordered a moratorium on new logging permits |
Greenpeace
says 1.8 million hectares of Indonesian forest is disappearing each year. China
and India have launched successful reforestation initiatives in the past 20
years - might Indonesia follow their lead?
Indonesia
has one of the world's highest deforestation rates and is the worst emitter of
greenhouse gases when it comes to slash-and-burn land clearances.
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| Reforestation statistics don't account for how much timber a nation imports from abroad |
The
government has taken note. This year President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono tried
to put the brakes on these troubling trends by announcing a moratorium on new
logging permits.
But as
Indonesian forests continue to vanish, some experts say a moratorium won't be
enough and that a major reforestation effort is in order.
Several
Asian countries, including China and India, have successfully launched similar
programs, according to a recent study by the Rights and Resources Initiative
(RRI).
RRI is a
global coalition that pushes for policy reforms in forest land use.
The
organization's study examined and compared five countries: China, South Korea,
Vietnam, India and Chile.
RRI
coordinator Andy White said countries that granted more land use rights to
local communities and indigenous peoples were better able to see through their
reforestation goals, compared to countries that didn't.
Land use
reforms
Out of the
five nations surveyed, China rehabilitated the most forest land, the study
said. Beijing said it replanted 50 million hectares of land between 1990 and
2010.
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| Palm oil plantations absorb far less CO2 than forest land |
Li Ping, a
land rights specialist with NGO Landesa, said that breakthrough was due to land
use reforms implemented at the turn of the century.
The Chinese
government awarded about 90 percent of public forest land to farmers. In turn,
they were permitted to use the parcel of land for two generations, up to 70
years, Li Ping added.
The policy
created an incentive for farmers to care for the forest land, particularly as
any improvements would benefit future generations. Li Ping said they were also
allowed to keep any yields from the land.
The farmers
were free to choose which trees they planted, but there were some limitations:
The forest land could not be transformed into farming plots, and trees could
only be chopped down with an official permit.
Greenhouse
gas reservoirs
Meanwhile,
critics say the statistics don't tell the whole story. For example, plantations
are classified as woodland, though they absorb far less carbon dioxide than
trees in a forest.
RRI
coordinator Andy White said the controversy surrounding the definition of
forest land is both political and technical in nature. From a climate
standpoint, emissions capacity is a key concern.
A natural
rainforest is able to store about 306 tons of carbon dioxide per hectare,
whereas the amount absorbed by a palm oil plantation is just 63 tons.
"But
it's also true that an oil palm plantation holds more carbon than a parking lot
or a mine," White told Deutsche Welle. "So these are different
land-use options - and why it's better to keep existing forests standing as
much as possible."
In
addition, reforestation figures don't take into account how much wood a country
imports from other nations - meaning though China might be able to maintain its
own forests, it does so by getting its supply elsewhere.
Dominic
Elson, the author of RRI's report, said countries like China have been able to
secure their raw materials supply in this way.
"While
they've been buying all the cheap timber from Indonesia, they have been able to
build their own plantation business and do it properly," he said.
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| Slash-and-burn methods have devastated forests in Indonesia |
White stressed that other countries shouldn't follow that strategy, though he said the political will shown by China and Vietnam to stop deforestation at home was worthy of praise.
Elson also
underscored the importance of giving local populations a say in the matter,
since ignoring community stakeholders can easily lead to conflict.
Indian
forest rights activist Madhu Sarin said India's own efforts at replanting drew
the ire of those living near designated reforestation areas.
"One
reason the Indian government is claiming that they've increased forest
cover...is because their forest department is forcibly banging trees into
people's cultivated lands," she said.
Ambitious
plans
Indonesia
has not been spared conflicts over such matters, but the country also has the
chance to take new, more positive approaches to working with local populations.
Kuntoro
Mangkusubroto, the head of Indonesia's REDD-plus taskforce, said Indonesia still
had time to push through such measures.
The
government has promised to cut emissions related to slash-and-burn tactics by
41 percent through 2020.
But that
hinges on support from donor nations like Norway, which has pledged $1 billion
to aid forest protection efforts in Indonesia. Without international funding,
Indonesia has set more modest goals of 26-percent cuts.
"That's
something we would do on our own if we involve local populations,"
Mangkusobroto said.
Author: Ziphora Robina (arp)
Editor: Nathan Witkop
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