Political indifference exacerbates Indonesia's deforestation

Fast economic expansion coupled with political apathy has led to rapid deforestation in Indonesia, threatening biodiversity. Activists say the government should not place GDP growth over environmental protection.

Deutsche Welle, 14 July 2014

Over the past decade, Indonesia has been experiencing strong economic growth, which has lifted millions of people out of poverty. However, the country's growth story has a negative side: rapid deforestation. High demand - both local and foreign - for forest products such as palm oil, pulp and paper is driving deforestation, according to the Indonesian research organization Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

A recent study by University of Maryland researchers concluded that Indonesia has the highest rate of deforestation in the world. Between 2000 and 2012, the country lost almost 16 million hectares of forest, an area the size of Greece. Forest land is being increasingly converted into either industrial zones or agricultural fields. Furthermore, illegal logging, mining and land fires have concerned environmentalists as they pose a threat to biodiversity and increase greenhouse gas emissions.

Lack of political interest in the protection
 of nature has led to growing rate of
deforestation in Indonesia

A lack of political interest in the protection of nature and poor governance are responsible for the growing rate of deforestation in Indonesia, said Bruno Vander Velde, senior writer at CIFOR.

Lack of political will

In an attempt to curb deforestation, the Indonesian government declared a moratorium in December 2011, which prohibited the approval of any licenses to convert primary forests and peatlands for agriculture or any other use. But the measure has so far failed to slow down the loss of forest area.

Environmentalists blame the failure on a lack of coordination between central and provincial governments, weak monitoring and widespread irregularities in local administration. Moreover, they add that the politicians' indifference towards the issue of climate change is exacerbating the problem.

Abetnego Tarigan, executive director of Jakarta-based environmental organization Friends of the Earth Indonesia's (WALHI), told DW that there has hardly been any discussion on environmental issues in the country's parliament.

"Economic growth and maximizing revenues by destroying natural resources is the only priority for the political class. Many lawmakers have business interests and they only have their profits in mind," Tarigan added.

Indonesia is rich in natural resources, but political parties pay little heed to protect them. For instance, during the campaign for the recently held presidential election, none of the candidates "showed strong commitment to protect the environment," Bustar Maitar, global head of Greenpeace's Indonesia forest campaign, told DW, adding that this lack of political will has become a big challenge for the protection of forests.

Weak monitoring

The latest data showed that while 38 percent of all tree cover loss in Indonesia occurred in the protected primary forests, the overall forest loss was increasing by an average of 47,600 hectares each year.

Environmentalist Tarigan said that there was evidence of illegal logging and deforestation in the restricted forest area. "Local authorities have too little capacity to monitor such a vast forest area and in many areas dishonest businessmen are taking advantage of it," he explained.

Moreover, one of the reasons for the failure to curb the forest loss is that a large amount of deforestation has been taking place outside the restricted primary forest area, say experts. "That is why the moratorium should be expanded to natural forests so that forest conversion can be monitored and reduced, stressed Greenpeace activist Bustar Maitar.

Threat to biodiversity

According to United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), total forest vegetation in Indonesia produces more than 14 billion tons of biomass, equivalent to approximately 20 percent of the biomass in all of Africa's tropical forests.

Sumatran and Javan rhinos have
 been categorized as critically
endangered

Indonesia covers only 1.3 percent of the world's landmass, but it is home to 11 percent of the world's plant species, 10 percent of mammal species and 16 percent of bird species. But continuous deforestation, illegal hunting and trading are having a negative impact on biodiversity in the country.

According to CIFOR, elephant population fell by 35 percent between 1992 and 2007 due to continuous deforestation. While the number of Sumatran tigers has decreased to some 400 to 500, Sumatran and Javan rhinos have already been categorized as critically endangered.

2,000 Nepalese tree-huggers claim world record

Yahoo – AFP, 5 June 2014

Nepalese school children hug trees in a bid as they celebrate World Environment

 Day in the forest of Gokarna village, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, on June 5,

2014. (Photo by Prakash Mathema / AFP)

More than two thousand people including lawmakers and students hugged trees in a park outside Nepal's capital Kathmandu on Thursday to claim a new record on World Environment Day.

After organisers sounded a horn, eager students, many wearing their school uniforms, clasped tree trunks and held tight for two minutes as Nepalese musicians beat traditional drums.

"We had a very high turnout. In the end, 2,001 people hugged trees together... to claim a new world record," said Thaneswar Guragai, one of the event's organisers.

Among the tree huggers was 24-year-old student Tripti Prajapti who told AFP: "When you hug a tree you feel connected... even as an individual you can contribute to protect and conserve trees."

Twenty Nepalese lawmakers also turned up to support the campaigners.

Nepalese school children hug trees as they celebrate World Environment Day

 in the forest of Gokarna village, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, on June 5, 2014

 (Photo by Prakash Mathema / AFP)

"We came here to encourage the kids. Just hugging a tree may not make a difference but... it raises awareness," said lawmaker Krishna Bahadur Chhantel Thapa.

Organisers will now submit their claim for a new record to Guinness World Records, which is expected to rule on it within two months.

The current world record for the world's largest tree-hugging event was set in July 2013, when 936 people gathered in the US state of Oregon.

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"Soul Communication" - Feb 22-23, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version Part 1, Text version Part 2)

"... Some of you will walk into the forest and you'll feel it. It surrounds you with its love and beauty. Gaia speaks to you. The trees are pushing out oxygen with a benevolent system of photosynthesis. The plants give you oxygen and you give them carbon dioxide. What a system! Look around. Science will say that system happened by accident - a random occurrence. Do you believe that? What a beautiful system! The trees themselves know who you are. You walk into the forest and you feel it hug you, but perhaps another is next to you who came with a chainsaw. They don't care and they don't feel it. To them, the forest is only a resource. What's the difference between the two of you? There's no judgment here, I'm just asking you. What do you think the difference is? The answer: You're letting multidimensional awareness in and they are not. You see, you are becoming more aware of multidimensional soul communication. In this case, it's your enormous soul energy communicating with the other parts of the planet who are also multidimensional.

When you make the decision that it's OK to feel this energy, it will be there. Most of humanity so far has not made that decision. They block it. The law is this - this communication will come to you only with your allowance. The moment you open the door of allowance, you may begin to feel it. Those are our rules.

It's not just allowance for communication from the creative source, but also from an amazing number of what we would call other benevolent energies. These others are represented by groups with names that you have given them. They also cannot get through to you unless you allow it. That's their rule as well. Your names for them are Pleiadians, Arcturians, Sirians, Hathors or those from Orion. There are many more, but unless you open to the possibility of them, they can't communicate either.

Most of humanity will stand next to you as you communicate and think you're not well. That's the way it looks to them. Listen, dear ones, the benevolent groups who represent your DNA essence [your seed biology] and who know who you are are many. The amount of help you have on this planet is staggering, yet the majority of humanity will not allow awareness of it or let the possibility into their reality.. ..."

"Soul Communication" - Feb 22-23, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version Part 1, Text version Part 2)

"... Universal communication: When you walk into the forest and the trees talk to you, what is that about? Gaia speaks to you! What does that voice sound like? Am I getting through to you? Do you understand what I'm saying?

You are able to hear these things in your own way, but none of them are synaptic. Are the trees in trouble? Are they crying? Perhaps they are celebrating? All of this information is available to those who can hear it.

"Kryon, is it true that in the forest there are what you would call devas?" Here's my answer: Are you kidding? Of course! Yes! You are asking what they are. They are multidimensional aspects of Gaia. I love how Humans deal with multidimensional energies. They "3D-ize" them. When Human Beings cannot understand a multidimensional energy, they make them entities, dress them [put outfits on them in their minds], give them names, and put them in Human movies. They're beautiful! You know they are, and they're everywhere. Go into the forest and they'll talk to you. Sit down in the grass and let them communicate with you. They're part of the energy soup that is Gaia, which is Mother Nature, the personality that is the love of God in nature.

Dear one, you're not going to receive bad things from a deva. You're not going to get bad information from hugging a tree. You know that, don't you? What does this tell you about how Gaia feels about you? These are just a few things when it comes to the subject of communication from others to you. ..."

Indonesia Project Boosts Global Forest CO2 Market

The Jakarta Post, David Fogarty and Sunanda Creagh | August 24, 2010

Forests soak up large amounts of carbon dioxide and scientists say curbing deforestation is a key way to fight climate change. (Bloomberg Photo/Dimas Ardian)

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• President Meets with Norwegian PM May 27, 2010
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• Rich Nations Pledge $4 Billion to Stop Deforestation; Indonesia Agrees to Moratorium Jul 22, 2010
• Greenpeace Names and Shames Companies over Indonesia Paper Jul 6, 2010
• Sinar Mas Continues to Clear Indonesian Rainforests: Greenpeace Jul 6, 2010
  

Jakarta. An Indonesian project aimed at saving a vast tract of rainforest has passed a milestone seen as a boost in the development of a global market in forest carbon credits.

That market under the UN-backed scheme Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, also known as REDD, could eventually be worth billions of dollars annually and is central to the goal of driving private sector involvement in forest protection.

The Rimba Raya conservation project covers nearly 100,000 ha (250,000 acres) of carbon-rich peat swamp forest in the province of Central Kalimantan.

Forests soak up large amounts of carbon dioxide and scientists say curbing deforestation is a key way to fight climate change.

The project has earned the first-ever approval of an accounting method for measuring the reduction in carbon emissions under REDD and is being developed by InfiniteEARTH, with funding from Shell, Gazprom Market and Trading and the Clinton Foundation.

The Voluntary Carbon Standard programme, also known as VCS, approved the methodology after it passed a mandated double auditing process.

The project itself is now undergoing third-party validation and is likely to become the world’s first VCS-approved REDD project later this year, Gazprom and InfiniteEARTH say.

The step is a boost for other REDD projects and investors wanting certainty on the quality of REDD carbon credits. There are several dozen REDD projects globally, including more than a dozen in Indonesia at various stages of development.

“This is seen as a landmark moment for the carbon market,” Gazprom said in a statement. “Historically REDD projects have suffered due to their exclusion from the Kyoto Protocol,” it said, as well as the absence of a recognised global standard.

The project is expected to reduce 18.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from being emitted in the first 10 years and up to 75 million tonnes in the 30-year life of the project.

At about $10 a credit, that means about $750 million over 30 years.

The future sale of carbon offsets from the project will help boost the livelihoods of more than 11,000 people in the area and save rare species including orang-utans and other primates, the statement says.

REDD aims to reward developing countries that save, protect and rehabilitate forests through large-scale projects.

Poorer nations and local forest communities are meant to take a major share of the sale of the carbon credits to rich nations, which can use them to meet mandated emission reduction targets.

REDD is not yet formally part of a broader UN climate pact and potential buyers of the credits have been waiting for an approved global standard for forest CO2 credits to ensure the reductions are real and verifiable.

“The methodology was designed for conservation projects that avoid planned land-use conversion in tropical peat swamp forests in Southeast Asia,” the statement said.

The project itself borders Tanjung Puting national park and the area has been under growing threat from encroaching palm oil plantations.

“It shows small-scale REDD can be done. This is also demonstrating the ability of project-based activities, that they can do that,” said Daniel Murdiyarso, senior scientist at the Centre for International Forestry Research.

Reuters

Carbon emissions may cost RI dearly

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, JAKARTA | Fri, 03/06/2009 9:37 AM  

 

Peatlands for palm oil: Peatland is drained to make way for the cultivation of oil palms in Central Kalimantan. Indonesia is home to the world’s largest peatland areas. Scientists have warned that peatland reclamation could increase the release of carbon emissions stored in its area, leading to the worsening of global warming. (Courtesy Of The Indonesian Peat Land Association)

Indonesia suffers an estimated US$1 billion in potential losses each year from the release of carbon stored in its tropical forests’ peatlands, a study has revealed.

Mitsuru Osaki, a professor at Hokkaido University’s Graduate School of Agriculture in Japan, said the potential losses were due to poor management combined with the massive opening of peatlands for agriculture, such as in Central Kalimantan.

“If we convert it to the price of carbon, Indonesia loses about $1 billion annually, equal with the release of 0.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide [CO2],” he said Thursday on the sidelines of an international conference on carbon management in peat forests in Central Kalimantan.

Asked about the peatland condition in Indonesia, Osaki, involved in a study on peatlands in Kalimantan from 1997 to 2007, said it was “terrible, with no management of peatlands.”

Osaki, together with a  team of 16 Japanese scientists, will conduct another five-year study to calculate the total carbon in the country’s peatlands.

The study will be jointly conducted with Indonesian scientists from the State Ministry for Research and Technology, the National Standardization Agency (BSN), the University of Palangka Raya, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and the Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan).

Tropical peatlands — including swamps and forests found in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Amazon lowlands and central Africa — are estimated to reach 42 million hectares and contain 148 gigatons of CO2.

Rising levels of CO2 emissions add to the greenhouse effect, thus increasing the temperature in the atmosphere, widely blamed for climate change effects.

Bambang Setiadi, chairman of the Indonesian Peatland Association, told the conference Indonesia had about 27 million hectares of peatlands, mostly in Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua.

“Indonesia’s peatlands store between 10 and 32 gigatons of CO2,” he said.

(JP/Irma)

The depth of the country’s peatlands ranges from 1 to more than 12 meters. About 42 percent of the peatlands are more than 2 meters deep, with deposits of 77 percent of total peat carbon.

Bambang, who is also BSN chairman, said deforestation and repeated forest and peat fires significantly contributed to carbon release.

“Fires have become the most dangerous threat to Indonesian forests and peatlands in the past 15 years,” he said.

Studies show peat deposits in Southeast Asia could be wiped out by 2040 due to fires.

Bambang added that up to 0.6 gigatons of carbon released into the atmosphere in 2006 were due to peat fires.

He said  carbon release from reclaimed peatlands could not be avoided. However, improved land management could lower the peat carbon loss rate.

LIPI peatland scientist Herwint Simbolon said the building of canals in peatlands would only accelerate the release of carbon.

“The fact is, carbon release is far higher than storage in peatlands, because the use of canals has sped up carbon release,” he said.

The government is currently drafting a presidential decree on peatland management, in a bid to cut CO2 emissions from peatlands.

Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono issued a ministerial decree last month to allow oil palm companies to expand into peatlands with a depth of less than 3 meters.

A report in 2006 from Wetlands International said Indonesia’s peatlands emitted around 2 billion tons of CO2 a year, far higher than the country’s emissions from energy, agriculture and waste, which together amounted to 451 million tons.

This places Indonesia as the world’s third largest CO2 emitter after the United States and China.

RI aims to cut 30 percent of emissions from energy sector

December 27, 2007

Although Indonesia is not bound to emissions targets under the Kyoto Protocol, the government is looking to a 30-percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector by 2012 in order to help address climate change. Below is the third article on climate-change mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has said that urban dwellers can cut 13 million tons of emissions per year if they are ready to shift to more eco-friendly lifestyles.

By adjusting the air conditioning to 25 degrees Celsius, using less water and purchasing more eco-friendly products, an urban dweller can save a kilogram of carbon dioxide (CO2) per day.

CO2 is the main driver of global warming, which causes climate change.

It is said that people who walk one kilometer rather than riding in a vehicle can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 222 grams.

The government's mitigation plan in the energy sector stipulates that efforts to cut emissions by individuals are the fastest way of achieving that objective, as already implemented by Japan's low-carbon society.

It says the government needs to provide incentives to people using energy-saving products as they significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The plan says that about 75 percent of government offices must use energy-saving products by 2012.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has predicted that the country's energy sector could be emitting up to 1.2 billion tons of CO2 per year if no action is taken.

As of 2003, Indonesia emitted about 258.7 million tons of emissions, with the country still relying on fossil fuels as its primary source of energy, with only 0.2 percent of the energy mix being renewable energy.

A 2006 presidential decree on national energy said that the use of renewable energy should reach 17 percent by 2025.

It said that through diversifying its sources of energy, Indonesia could cut 17 percent of its CO2 emissions.

"If the country can increase the use of geothermal energy up to 8.4 percent, we can reduce 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025," the decree stated.

It added that the application of carbon capture storage technology could slash emissions by up to 37 percent.

Carbon capture storage (CCS) is an approach to mitigating global warming that involves capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from large sources, such as fossil-fuel power plants, and subsequently storing it in geological formations instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.

The International Energy Agency forecasts that energy demand and prices will continue to soar, with the world set to use 60 percent more energy by 2030 than at present.

Renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, geothermal and biomass energy, are on the rise, with wind power being the fastest growing energy resource in the world.

However, incentives and investment in renewable energy continue to be insufficient to forge a fundamental overhaul of the energy sector.

The government said that it would map out potential renewable energy resources across the country and provide incentives for local governments to develop renewable energy.

The government's plan also stipulates tax cuts for greener technologies.

Sea holds climate change benefits, threats

The United Nations climate change panel says seas could rise by up to 59 centimeters by 2100 due to warmer global temperatures. Indonesia, according to the government, is experiencing a sea level rise of about 0.8 mm per year. This is the fourth article in a series on climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts.

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The sea poses both a threat and opportunity for coastal communities in Indonesia -- a sprawling archipelago with some 17,000 islands -- in facing global warming.

Rising sea levels are expected to submerge smaller islands while at the same time the sea can be used as a carbon sink to help the world mitigate human-induced climate change.

The ministry of maritime and fishery affairs says Indonesia's seas have the capacity to store up to 245 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main driver of climate change.

The ministry also predicts that some 61,000 square kilometers of coral reef could absorb 73.5 million tons of CO2 per year. The existing 93,000 hectares of mangrove forest could store 75.4 million tons of CO2 and phytoplankton species could handle some 11 million tons of carbon.

In addition to rising sea levels, global warming could also alter sea water's acidity and temperature, the ministry says, as well as forming more frequent weather extremes such as high sea waves and tropical storms.

The ministry predicts that a meter in sea level rises could swamp 405,000 hectares of coastal areas and 2,000 small islands while damaging coral reefs.

A plan of action on mitigation says that the government would develop more mangrove forests to help coastal communities fend off rising seas and stronger tropical storms.

Mangroves provide a habitat for shrimps and small fish, break up waves and retain silt and soil, preventing them from damaging coral reefs.

Mangroves also keep rising sea levels at bay, up to a certain extent, giving communities more time to adjust.

The action plan says the government would promote integrated coastal management to improve the quality of rivers and coastal areas as well as setting up early earning systems for extreme weather.

For fishing communities, the government intends to develop eco-friendly fishing facilities such as boats that could resist high waves.

Meanwhile, scientists have been urged to review the sea's potential to store CO2.

Six Southeast Asian and Pacific nations, including Indonesia, recently launched an initiative to save the "Coral Triangle", which contains more than half of the world's reefs, during the Bali climate change summit.

It is estimated that there are more than 600 species of coral and more than 3,000 species of plants and fish living in the waters encompassing the Philippines, Timor Leste, parts of Indonesia and Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Farmers told to watch the weather closely

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has warned farmers of extreme weather events in regards to climate change. This is the second article in a series of six and focuses on the government's action plan for climate change mitigation and adaptation in the agricultural sector.

The government has told farmers to be more "creative" to grasp weather patterns that are predicted to become more extreme.

"The toughest work for our farmers now is how to adapt to unpredictable weather changes," Gatot Irianto, director of water resources at the ministry of agriculture, told The Jakarta Post.

"Long-standing traditional crop cycle systems may no longer be practicable."

However, said Gatot, without putting their income at risk, farmers can still do much to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thus help avert disastrous climate change.

A study by London-based economist Nicholas Stern indicated agriculture was responsible for 14 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

Through various incentives, the government plan calls for farmers to find ways to store more carbon dioxide (C02) and methane (CH4), thus releasing less of these harmful gases into the atmosphere.

According to the mitigation plan, the government is to provide financial incentives to farmers who avoid clearing land by burning, for example.

"We want zero burning as a method for clearing land."

The plan also calls for animal manure and methane to be trapped and converted to electricity for nearby farming communities. Methane gas is even more problematic than C02 when released.

To reduce methane, eco-friendly irrigation systems that use less water are called for by the plan because CH4-producing bacteria are linked to irrigation flow rates.

Meanwhile, as another alternative strategy for reducing emissions, the plans call for various forms of carbon to be "stored" both in living matter -- such as trees -- and underground, in non-productive mines.

According to the blueprint action plan, by 2025 the country's palm oil, rubber and cacao plantations would be able to store 217 million tons of C02.

Meanwhile, residue from crop harvests is to be used to produce compost and the government will work to drive up the use of organic fertilizer and eco-friendly pesticides.

The government plan categorizes adaptation goals as to whether they are short, medium or long-term efforts.

In the short term -- over the next year, until 2009 -- the adaptation effort is focused on gathering data on areas vulnerable to droughts or floods, including information on dry and wet seasons.

The information is to be distributed to farmers as a guideline to help in re-mapping weather patterns, agricultural seasons and crop cycles.

"We have finished the map for the island of Java," Gatot said.

In the medium-term -- through 2012 -- the plan will see the government create and evaluating an early warning system for drought. In the long term, the government is set to analyze weather anomalies and be able to better predict planting seasons and adjust crop cycles.

Just exactly what farmers should expect -- of course -- the government can't say. However changes in rainfall and drought, they are told, will seriously impact agriculture.

Experts have said that for every one Celsius degree increase in the average temperature, rice yields decrease by about 10 percent.

In the 1990s, the ministry of agriculture reported an average harvest failure of 100,000 tons per regency across the country due to drought.

The failure rate has been around 300,000 tons per regency since 2000.

With an estimated 60 million farmers in the country, approximately one in four Indonesians can expected to be directly impacted by statistics like these.

Gatot said his office had repeatedly urged farmers to plant crops other than rice -- such as corn and soybeans -- especially in the dry season, due to the water-intensive nature of rice farming.

Currently, most farmers plant rice in both dry and wet seasons.

Minister: all types of forests must be given compensation

Nusa Dua, Bali (ANTARA News) - Forestry Minister MS Kaban has stated that all types of Indonesian forests must be given compensation in the scheme of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation).

"All of them have correlation in the efforts to reduce emissions as part of the fight against climate change," Minister MS Kaban said here on Thursday on the sidelines of the 13th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change being held in Nusa Dua, Bali Island, from December 3 to 14, 2007.

The minister also said that the compensation should be awarded not only for the trees which could absorb CO2 but also for biodiversity and the water catchment function as well.

Compensation for non-timber could be in the form of transfer of technology and research cooperation as stated in the REDD scheme`s conservation section, he said.

However, the implementation would depend on multilateral and bilateral cooperation agreements, he said.

He cited a 1,200-hectare project in Bromo, Tengger, Yogyakarta, with the cooperation of Japan as an example of the implementation of bilateral cooperation in the compensation project.

Minister Kaban said that Indonesia received appreciation for its achievement in reducing forest degradation in the Forest-11 plus 18 meeting attended by 18 countries having tropical forests and advanced countries such as Germany, Britain, the US and Japan which had been held on the sidelines of the 13th COP UNFCCC.

The forest degradation rate between 1997 and 2000 in Indonesia was 2.8 million hectares, and the figure decreased to 1.08 million hectares between 2001 and 2005.

Kaban said that his ministry had disbursed rehabilitation funds amounting to one billion US dollars, an increased of 800 percent from the previous period.

The Indonesian forestry ministry had set a target to plant trees on a total of five million hectares of arid land.

Indonesia could net US$2 billion from forest conservation

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

If it is rapacious business interests that are destroying our forests, then perhaps it might be ingenious business responses that could help save them -- especially if such "commercial conservation" can generate as much money as exploiting the forests.

In the Indonesian context, there may be up to US$2 billion in potential annual revenues that could be generated just by preserving the country's forests and offering them as a carbon-dioxide (CO2) "sinks" on the global carbon-trading market.

"We should think of forests beyond timber, rattan and minerals. The most valuable aspect of a forest is actually its ability to retain and absorb carbon (CO2). That's what many people don't quite grasp yet," Laode M. Kamaluddin, regional director of the non-profit Borneo Tropical Rainforest Foundation (BTRF), said during a workshop on forest carbon-trading Thursday.

"So, our forests should be seen as manageable and durable asset, and no longer just as an exhaustible commodity."

Building on this "business-like mind-set" regarding the carbon value of forests, Laode said Indonesia should not miss out on the already existing -- and growing -- carbon trading market to raise funds for better managing and conserving its forests, and doing so in a "business-like manner".

This includes establishing professionally managed bodies for forest conservation projects, which could work closely with local communities, and ensure that the projects turned out as profitable as if the forests were used for commercial purposes.

"The aim is to show that the benefits of conserving forests are comparable to those of exploiting them," Laode said.

Studies show that a hectare of preserved forest can provide a sink for between 90 and 400 tons of CO2, while a ton of CO2 can fetch between US$3 and $20 on the carbon market.

If calculated using median figures, Laode pointed to how just one million hectares of forest in Kalimantan, Aceh, Papua or any other of Indonesia's provinces could fetch up to Rp 18 trillion (US$2 billion) alone.

As a rough comparison, the government only expects to take in Rp 2.3 trillion in royalties and fees from forestry concessions. Royalties and fees from mining, some concessions for which are located in forest areas, are expected to come to Rp 4.8 trillion.

Indonesia has some 88 million hectares of rainforest, the world's third largest area, yet is estimated to be losing up to 1.8 million hectares each year due to illegal logging and forest fires. Such risks mean that forest-related carbon projects in Indonesia are only worth between US$5 and 10 per ton of CO2 reduction.

The Swiss-based BTRF, Malinau regency in East Kalimantan and the U.K.-based Global Eco Rescue (GRE), have entered into a public-private partnership to conserve 325,000 hectares in the area worth an initial 325,000 euros.

The Malinau project is expected to serve as a pilot project in setting a more accurate "carbon value baseline" for others in Indonesia. It comes on the heels of BTRF's and GRE's one-million-hectare project in Brazil's Amazon forest, and 500,000-hectare project in Malaysia's Sabah.

Malinau regent Marthin Billa said the project was also expected to promote a culture of preserving forests and benefiting from their resources, as shown by the Dayak people, who only remove as much wood and rattan as they need, and clear forest land using responsible methods.

Forest conversation projects can at present only be offered through the voluntary carbon market (VCM), as they are not part of the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM), which only includes reforestation as an emissions reduction method.

The carbon market was born from the CDM, which allows developed nations to invest in green projects in developing countries in exchange for their required emissions reduction quota.

The international conference on climate change, which Indonesia will host next week in Bali, is expected to discuss the inclusion of the proposed Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) mechanism for the 2012 post-Kyoto Protocol agreement on emissions reduction -- combining reforestation methods with conservation.

Farmers tell govt to go organic

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia's farming body has called on the government to help small-scale and family-run farms implement sustainable and organic farming to help combat climate change.

The Federation of Indonesian Farmers Association (FSPI) said December's climate change conference in Bali would be the most opportune time for the government to introduce a program targeted at small and family-run farms.

FSPI executive Tejo Pramono told a media conference Tuesday family farmers should focus on organic farming methods to help reduce the use of fertilizers and fossil fuels.

"By changing the farming system, small-scale farmers can significantly cool down the earth and reduce greenhouse gas emission," Tejo said.

Indonesian farmers were currently facing problems of limited land allocations for farming, he said.

"Most farmers have less than one hectare of land, (which sees) the country rely on imported foods including rice," Tejo said.

"We'll ask the government to provide at least four hectares of land for a family farmer."

FSPI is a member of La Via Campesina -- an organization that says it brings together millions of small farmers and producers worldwide.

FSPI's executive Tejo is a member of La Via Campesina and said both FSPI and Campesina were critical of current world-wide food trade practices.

"The farming policies from the World Trade Organization (WTO), the regional or bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) must be ended," Tejo said.

"They promote transporting food around the world," he said.

La Via Campesina's main office is in Jakarta.

Tejo said the WTO and FTAs put priorities on food produced with fossil-based pesticides and fertilizers and transported them all around the world.

"The globalized farming and food productions will further worsen global warming," Tejo said.

Indonesia has long been a food importer, including unhusked rice, fruits and vegetables.

"All imported food products consume huge fossil fuel during their transportation to Indonesia," Tejo said.

He said if organic practices were adopted and Indonesia could become self sufficient, the republic would no longer need to transport food from other countries.

Experts said changing weather patterns due to the climate change "would cause unpredictable drought and floods that lead to harvest failures".

The government said it would negotiate emission reductions from the forestry sector to tap financial incentives to benefit the people in the area.

"We will provide 70 percent of carbon sales from the REDD mechanism to local people living near the forest," a forestry ministry spokesman said.

Wahjudi Wardojo, head of the forestry research and development agency at the forestry ministry, was speaking at a discussion on climate change organized by WWF Indonesia and the Society of Indonesian Environmental Journalists (SIEJ).

Reduction Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Country (REDD) is Indonesia's new climate change mechanism to be introduced in December.

Wahjudi said Indonesia, which has the third largest forests in the world, could gain US$2 billion per year from the REDD project.

Palu government aims to turn trash into cash

Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Palu

An increasing burden for the city, Palu municipality in Central Suluwesi is making efforts to use its garbage to produce methane, an alternative fuel source.

To realize the program the local administration, through PT Palu Cipta Metana, has signed a memorandum of understanding with PT Global Eko Rescue Foundation Ltd. in Jakarta.

"By our plans the project will commence at the end of the year or early next year," Palu Deputy Mayor Suardin Suebo told The Jakarta Post at Kawatuna subdistrict garbage dump in East Palu, on Monday.

Suardin said the company would build 40 gas wells around the site to collect methane.

The wells, each 15 meters deep, are expected to produce some 395,000 cubic meters of gas annually.

Palu city's 630 cubic meters of trash a day is believed to produce tons of methane, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and oxygen every day.

"The city will raise an estimated US$1.2 billion annually from carbon trade using the methane," Suardin said.

Major cities in Indonesia produce, on average, 10 million tons of garbage annually, with a total methane output of 404 million tons a year. This methane could be used to generate some 79 megawatts of electricity, he said.

Suardin said the total income from carbon trading could amount to up to Rp 118 billion (US$13.1 million) a year.

Income from methane production used for power generation could reach Rp 162 billion a year, and an equal amount from carbon trade, he said.

Suardin said the methane produced at the Kawatuna garbage dump was estimated to be able to generate 2,780,000 kilowatt hours (KWH) of electricity annually.

Assuming a single 450W-capacity household uses electricity for 24 hours, it would use around 10.8 KWH per day, or 3,942 KWH annually.

"Thus, we can meet the power needs ... for 705 households in Palu... Palu could earn some Rp 96.8 billion annually from electricity. This is what I call making cash from trash," Suardin said.

Only six out of 60 timber firms eco-friendly, says global certifier

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Of the more than 60 forestry concessionaires operating in Indonesia, only six produce eco-friendly timber products based on sustainable forestry practices, an international green-forestry certifier says.

SmartWood, a non-profit organization established by the Rainforest Alliance that promotes green-forestry certification, said that the low number of companies securing eco-friendly certificates was due to a lack of public awareness about the need for forest protection.

"It is now up to the public to force forest companies to promote environmentally sustainable practices in their operations by purchasing only certified timber and timber products," Aisyah Erawati Sileuw, SmartWood's forest management coordinator for the Asia Pacific region, said Tuesday.

Toronto, Canada-based SmartWood offers the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certificate, the only international green-forestry accreditation available to date

However, there is no obligation on forestry firms to obtain such a certificate.

Products crafted from certified wood include furniture, plywood, moldings, flooring and window frames.

The Rainforest Alliance has so far certified more than 1,400 companies holding concessions extending to more than 31 million hectares worldwide.

The six Indonesian forest concessionaires that have received certification account for only 847,750 hectares out of a total concession area of 600 million hectares.

Certification involves compliance with 10 principles, including enhancing the social and economic benefits for local communities, and conserving forest diversity.

Aisyah said that certification enabled consumers to chose products that were manufactured in accordance with strict environmental guidelines.

However, as there was no demand for certified timber products from local buyers, the six companies exported all of their certified products to such markets as the United States and the European nations.

Indonesia is a key exporter of timber, paper and palm oil to China, Japan, South Korea and a number of European nations.

Aisyah said that greater public awareness about certified wood products would help reduce the rate of forest destruction here.

"Indonesia loses an area of forest equal to six soccer fields every minute. At the present time, 72 percent of our forests is heavily damaged," she said.

Indonesia has long been under pressure to stop rampant illegal logging and forest fires so as to save the country's forests and help contain global warming.

Forest fires have made the country the world's third largest greenhouse gas emitting country after the United States and China.

Climate change will 'seriously harm RI'

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It is no long shot. Indonesia is facing serious threats on many fronts from climate change, a government report says.

A country report on the impact of climate change says that water scarcity is a clear danger to Indonesia, with some coastal areas facing the real prospect of disappearing off the map.

"Indonesia is vulnerable to climate change. Floods, droughts, landslides and forest fires are common climate-related hazards here," Rizaldi Boer, the coordinating author of the central government's report Climate Variability and Climate Change and their Implications in Indonesia, said Wednesday.

The executive summary of the first-ever official report on climate change was delivered at an international seminar on water and climate change Wednesday.

The report will be published next month before being submitted to the United Nations.

The report says climate change will lengthen the dry period caused by El-ni¤o and deplete sources of surface water.

Warmer temperature are expected to lead to a rise in sea levels and worsen the quality of groundwater, which has long been the main source of drinking water in urban areas.

The report says saltwater intrusion is already occurring in Jakarta, Surabaya and Semarang.

In Jakarta, the problem has been evident since the 1960s. The shallow groundwater of coastal areas was brackish before major groundwater developments in previous decades.

Saltwater intrusion in the shallow and deep aquifer has reached 15 kilometers from the coastline in Jakarta and caused serious land subsidence that will make the areas more flood prone, the report says.

Indonesia has around 81.000 kilometers of coastline.

Many industries such as oil and gas, fisheries, agriculture and tourism operate in coastal areas.

The report says a one meter rise in sea levels would flood 405,000 hectares of coastal land and could lead to the disappearance of small islands. This would have serious implications for Indonesia's state borders.

The report says a water crisis would negatively affect crop yields in farming areas, while an increase in temperatures and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations would also affect rice yields.

The report also predicts global warming will make more people become vulnerable to outbreaks of water and vector-borne disease such as malaria and dengue fever.

Indonesia is currently the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases due to the significant release of carbon dioxide from deforestation.