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.