JAKARTA, July 10 (Reuters) - Indonesia's forestry ministry has released what are believed to be the world's first set of revenue sharing rules governing forest carbon projects, a ministry official said on Friday.<\/p>\n
The profit-sharing rules will help clear up important questions over Indonesia's release in May of the world's first set of formal regulations on a U.N.-backed scheme called reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation, or REDD.<\/p>\n
The rules in May governed who could carry out a REDD project and in which type of forest. The revenue sharing rules were expected to take up to six months and heavily involve the Finance Ministry.<\/p>\n
\"Yes, this is the distribution of the profits,\" said forestry ministry spokesman Masyhud who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name. \"We released this regulation to avoid a long, bureaucratic process.\"<\/p>\n
Under the revenue sharing rules -- which can be read in Bahasa Indonesia here -- between 10 and 50 percent of the profits from REDD projects will be taken by the Indonesian government, depending on the type of forest.<\/p>\n
Of that portion, 20 percent will go to the provincial government, 40 percent to the regency government and 40 percent to the central government in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Between 20 and 70 percent will go to local communities.<\/p>\n
\"This is the first time, in black and white, there has been a realistic indication of revenue sharing,\" said Tobias Garritt, CEO of Emerald Planet Indonesia, which is jointly developing REDD projects on 250,000 hectares (625,000 acres) of forest in Papua, eastern Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"This appears to be a well put together regulation that would provide some certainty to the market.\"<\/p>\n
He said the money for local communities would be disbursed through a trust fund.<\/p>\n
However, it remains unclear why the regulation was issued by the Forestry Ministry and not the Finance Ministry.<\/p>\n
\"We are currently trying to find an answer to that question,\" said Noeroso L. Wahyudi, a senior Finance Ministry official originally tasked with drafting the revenue sharing regulations.<\/p>\n
Deforestation is responsible for nearly 20 percent of mankind's greenhouse gas emissions and the United Nations has backed REDD as a way to put a price on those emissions to try to curb forest destruction.<\/p>\n
The scheme, if formally included in a broader U.N. climate pact to be negotiated at a major conference at the end of the year, could potentially unlock billions of dollars in annual revenues for developing nations.<\/p>\n
The money would come from the sale of U.N.-backed carbon credits, with each credit representing a tonne of carbon-dioxide locked away by a forest as it grows.<\/p>\n
But green groups say the key to the scheme's success hinges on a large portion of the money going to local communities to help them develop alternative livelihoods to ensure the forests stay standing over many decades. (Editing by David Fogarty)<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesia-issues-first-forest-carbon-revenue-rules-1247445322", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }