The Tomawankng Ompu' communal forest. (Photo: https://www.thejakartapost.com/)Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesia is set to receive a 56 million USD grant fromNorway as the first payment for the Southeast Asian nation’s success inreducing deforestation and carbon emissions under the Reducing Emissions fromDeforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD ) cooperation scheme.
According to a statement from the Indonesian Environment and Forestry Ministry issuedon May 21, the grant would be handed over in June – coinciding with thecommemoration of a decade of climate funding cooperation in which Indonesiawould receive a total of 1 billion USD for protecting its tropical forests.
Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya said the grant was aresult-based payment.
“This is going to be the first payment for Indonesia’s achievement in its REDDeffort during the period between 2016 and 2017,” The Jakarta Post newspaperquoted the minister as saying.
The ministry reported to Norway that Indonesia saw a decline in thedeforestation rate in the 2016-2017 period, with 480,000 hectares of forestlost that was believed to have prevented the release of about 4.8 million tonnesof carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions to the atmosphere – a figurelower than the baseline agreed upon by both countries.
According to the verification process conducted by the Norwegian governmentfrom November last year to March, the emissions reduction achieved by Indonesiain the 2016-2017 period was counted at 11.2 million tonnes CO2e – higher thanits initial report of 4.8 million tonnes.
According to Minister Siti, each tonne of CO2e under the scheme is valued at 5USD, referring to the price designated by the World Bank for the REDD scheme.
She said Indonesia expects to receive another round of payments for itsprogress in the 2017-2018 period and onward.
The fund will be channeled through the Indonesian Environmental Estate Fund(BPDLH), a public service agency tasked with managing funds related toenvironmental protection and conservation. The agency was launched in Octoberlast year.
The fund will be used to finance community-based environmental recovery effortsunder President Joko Widodo’s direction./.
VNA
