(Reuters) -
Indonesia's progress in reforming its forestry sector will not be sufficient to
meet its pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 26 percent by 2020, Norway's
environment minister said on Tuesday.
Indonesia
imposed a two-year moratorium on clearing forest last May under a $1 billion
climate deal with Norway aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation,
despite resistance from some government departments and from resource firms
looking to expand in the archipelago.
Norway has
been impressed by what Indonesia has achieved in terms of transparency in the
forest sector and by a change towards being more pro-environment in policy
debates around land use, said its environment minister, Bård Vegar Solhjell.
However,
deforestation continues in areas not covered by the moratorium as well as
illegally in the country's carbon-rich tropical forests and peatlands. Permits
to clear land are often given out by local governors and there is a lack of
central government enforcement.
"We
know that the moratorium itself is not sufficient to reach the climate
mitigation pledged, or to stop deforestation in the speed that is
necessary," Solhjell told Reuters in an interview.
It was the
first time Norway indicated the moratorium may not be sufficient.
Indonesia's
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed up to the Norway deal and moratorium
as part of his pledge to slash emissions this decade, but there have been few
other policy steps to curb emissions in the fast-growing G20 economy.
"It's
a very progressive pledge but it's also very challenging to actually put it
into place," said Solhjell.
The country
is attracting increasing foreign investment in manufacturing industries such as
steel, cement and power that are all heavy emitters of greenhouse gases, while
sales of energy-guzzling SUV cars, mobile phones and flights are surging.
Higher
energy demand from power use, mainly produced from coal, will boost carbon
emissions. Indonesia does not provide annual emissions data, though the World
Bank rated it as the world's third largest emitter in 2005 because of
deforestation.
SELLING
PERMITS
The $1
billion Norway has promised under the deal is contingent on policy change and
proven emissions reductions from the forestry sector. The forestry ministry
makes billions of dollars from selling permits to use forests each year.
Only months
after Yudhoyono signed the forest moratorium, the former governor of the
country's westernmost Aceh province breached the ban by issuing a permit to a
palm oil firm to develop carbon-rich peatland.
The permit
prompted legal action from environmental groups and investigations by the
police and several government bodies, making the case a test of the country's
commitment to halt deforestation in the world's largest exporter of palm oil.
After the
investigation, the government said on Monday that the permit was issued to palm
oil firm Kallista Alam without following proper procedures, and that it would
protect the strip of peatland in Aceh.
The forest,
home to endangered orangutans, was partly cleared by burning even before the
permit was issued, said Mas Achmad Santosa, a government official.
"The
case of Kallista Alam in Aceh is the typical problem we are facing ... some
parts have been turned to palm oil plantations, some have been burned, and it
turned out the permit does not exist," said Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, who is
in charge of overseeing forestry sector reform.
(The story
was corrected in para 6 to make clear Norway's view on moratorium not being
sufficient.)
No comments:
Post a Comment