Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon & Adelia Anjani Putri, Jan 29, 2015
Jakarta. President Joko Widodo has disbanded Indonesia’s BP REDD+ agency, which was established in 2013 to help the country meet greenhouse gas emission targets from deforestation, and merged it with Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
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| Indonesia has the third largest area of tropical rainforest on the planet, but also one of the fastest rates of deforestation. (EPA Photo/Bagus Indahono) |
Jakarta. President Joko Widodo has disbanded Indonesia’s BP REDD+ agency, which was established in 2013 to help the country meet greenhouse gas emission targets from deforestation, and merged it with Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
The
decision, which was issued via Presidential Decree No. 16/2015 issued on Jan.
23, will see the Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Forest Degradation
(REDD+) Management Body, as well as the National Council on Climate Change,
folded into the ministry.
Both
agencies are peak government bodies whose role is crucial to halting
Indonesia’s rapid deforestation rates and mitigating climate change.
“The task
and function of reducing greenhouse emissions conducted by BP REDD+ as stated
in Presidential Decree No. 62/2003 now will be integrated as the ministry’s
task and function,” Article 59 of the decree said.
There was
no elaboration on the technical arrangements, but the decree said that the
authority would be given to minister Siti Nurbaya.
BP REDD+
was founded in 2013 by then-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as part of
Indonesia’s $1 billion REDD deal with Norway.
In 2009,
Indonesia pledged to cut deforestation rates — which are estimated to be some
of the fastest in the world — by up to 41 percent by 2020. A year later
Indonesia signed a letter of intent with Norway, which outlined Indonesia’s
commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation
of peatland, in exchange for payments of up to $1 billion from Norway.
BP REDD
took over from the REDD+ Task Force, which was established in 2010, and has
since worked on Indonesia’s REDD+ planning, including projects such as the One
Map initiative — a centralized forestry map, which is aimed resolving
conflicting land claims that have hampered emissions reductions targets.
The
decision to disband the agency has met a mixed response from some within
Indonesia, but Norway’s ambassador to Indonesia Stig Traavik took a cautious
tone when contacted on Thursday.
He said it
was natural for a new government to want to “manage things their own way” and
Norway was open to some changes.
When asked
whether he thought Joko was serious about Indonesia’s environmental pledge, he
replied the two countries had a long partnership on climate issues and he was
confident things would progress.
“We have
heard about the decision but not in detail. The main thing now is how to reach
the goal together,” Traavik said.
Abetnego
Tarigan, executive director at the Indonesian Forum for the Environment, said
for certain issues the merger could be positive.
“The
previous president formed BP REDD+ with the help of the Norwegian embassy as a
debottlenecking attempt in the efforts of solving environmental issues in
Indonesia,” he said.
“However,
the problems have been that the ministries were not working well because they
couldn’t work hand in hand.”
Abetnego
said what was important was whether efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
were effective.
“If merging
BP REDD+ was an attempt to kill it all … I think that would be a colossal
mistake,” he said.
“With the
merger, the assumption is that there wouldn’t be any difficulties in solving
environmental issues, as the ministry is a big institution and also has
regional units in many areas.”
William
Sabandar, former deputy of operations at BP REDD+, was less affirmative about
the decision.
“This is
how I see it as a former deputy of BP REDD+. What’s certain is that the
presidential decree violates the agreement between the Indonesian government
with the Norwegian government which is stated in the Letter of Intent in 2010.”
He said it
was sad to see that the merger had not been considered thoroughly in terms of
its local, national and international effects.
“The
international dimension would be how they would consider Indonesia’s important
role in the global climate change movement.
“The
national dimension is how serious we are in boosting the country’s forest and
land management across the archipelago.
“The local
dimension is the BP REDD+’s role in involving the society and boosting
welfare.”
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