Developing countries demand compensation over deforestation

Developing countries demand compensation over deforestation

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Developing countries with vast forest areas such as Indonesia are
seeking financial compensation from developed countries for their
efforts to halt deforestation.

The argument goes that stopping the deforestation process
would greatly contribute to the developed nations' carbon dioxide
(CO2) reduction efforts.

This idea was proposed last week by delegates from Papua New
Guinea and Costa Rica at the ongoing United Nations environmental
conference in Montreal, Canada, said Pelangi, an Indonesian
environmental non-governmental organization, which sent three
representatives to the conference.

According to the proposal, the compensation mechanism could be
similar to the one adopted by the Kyoto Protocol, signed by most
developed nations, which obliges them to reduce the planet's
greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent between 2008 and 2012.
Under the treaty's carbon emission trade mechanism, developed
nations can claim the CO2 reductions made by developing nations
in exchange for compensation (between US$1.50 to $5 for every ton
of CO2 reduction).

"Deforestation contributes to greater carbon emissions and has
resulting in carbon concentrating in the atmosphere. Therefore,
curbing deforestation is the same as minimizing carbon emissions,"
the Pelangi statement said, quoting arguments from proponents of
the new proposal.

The Jakarta-based Pelangi said that, if approved, the new
proposal would benefit Indonesia as it would encourage the cash-
strapped government to be more aggressive in halting the
deforestation process, while at the same time providing direct
financial benefit.

"Since Indonesia has rapid annual deforestation, such a move
would not only curb the problem but also result in compensation at the
same time," Pelangi caretaker executive director Kuki Soejachmoen
told The Jakarta Post over the phone from Montreal.

Indonesia has hundreds of millions of hectares of natural
forest, but has an annual deforestation rate of over 2.5
million hectares, mostly caused by illegal logging, blanket
felling to clear land for new plantations and shifting
cultivation.

"It (the new proposal) could significantly boost the potential
of our carbon emission reduction efforts," Kuki added.

According to the Office of the State Minister for the
Environment, Indonesia has the potential to reduce between CO2
emissions from the energy and industrial sectors by between 125
million and 300 million tons between 2008 and 2012.

However, Kuki said that no agreement had been made yet on how
the compensation mechanism would work.

"All delegates basically agree to the proposal, but it will
not be (implemented) in the near future," she said.

She also said that the proposal would not be implemented in
the protocol's first commitment period of 2008 to 2012.

"For the time being, the conference could only agree that
every party can submit their ideas and proposals on the mechanism
before next March, while finalization will be discussed in 2007,"
she said.

Earlier, State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar
said that Indonesia faced a real threat of climate change due to
greenhouse gas emissions, and urged the United States of America
to do more to lower the emissions.

"We are one of the countries most vulnerable because we are an
archipelagic and developing nation that is trying to build up its
economy," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference.