Indonesia Partners with Korea as Giant Carbon Project Set to Proceed!
Indonesia’s Minister of Forestry, Raja Juli Antoni, held a meeting with Park Chongho, Executive Director of the Asia Forest Cooperation Organization (AFoCO), to strengthen strategic cooperation in forestry, particularly in the development of carbon projects, land rehabilitation, and community empowerment.
The Kemenhut-AFoCO meeting represents a green diplomacy effort as part of President Prabowo Subianto’s state visit to foster closer bilateral relations between Indonesia and the Republic of Korea, especially in promoting strategic cooperation in the forestry sector, including with the international cooperation organisation headquartered in Korea.
During the meeting, AFoCO expressed appreciation for Indonesia’s active role as a member since 2019. Indonesia’s membership has been assessed as providing significant contributions to enhancing the profile of Indonesia’s forestry sector at the regional level and serving as an effective platform to campaign for sustainable forestry development.
The AFoCO Executive Director emphasised the significant opportunities for future cooperation, particularly in developing carbon projects in Indonesia. This potential encompasses social forestry areas, national parks, and concession areas that require support in preparing projects and carbon certification documents. Additionally, AFoCO is currently developing a blended finance scheme to support reforestation activities on degraded lands that can be claimed as carbon projects.
AFoCO also conveyed that the organisation has obtained accredited entity status with the Green Climate Fund, thereby opening broader opportunities for Indonesia to access international funding for sustainable forestry project development. Furthermore, AFoCO has secured funding support from Rabobank for developing agroforestry carbon projects in the Asia-Pacific region, which is expected to be replicated in Indonesia.
In response, Raja Juli affirmed Indonesia’s commitment to continue actively contributing to AFoCO’s development, in line with Indonesia’s position as the country with the largest tropical forest in Asia.
Kemenhut is committed to strengthening cooperation with AFoCO in promoting sustainable forest management, including through the development of carbon projects that provide both ecological and economic benefits to communities.
As a concrete step, Raja Juli proposed strengthening institutional arrangements by placing a Permanent Representative from the Ministry of Forestry at AFoCO’s headquarters to enhance coordination and communication effectiveness between institutions.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Forestry also invited AFoCO to support the management of 1.4 million hectares of customary forests targeted for management over the next five years. Additionally, AFoCO’s support is expected to strengthen the empowerment of social forestry permit holders, particularly in addressing challenges related to initial funding access and technical assistance in preparing activity programmes.
This meeting reaffirms the joint commitment between Indonesia and AFoCO to strengthen collaboration in addressing climate change challenges, ecosystem rehabilitation, and improving the welfare of forestry-based communities.