RI benefits from carbon trade mechanism

RI benefits from carbon trade mechanism

Stevie Emilia, The Jakarta Post, Milan, Italy

As the summit on climate change here is set to enter the high
level session on Wednesday, participants are completing
mechanisms aiming to regain forest land and clean up the air, and
also to gain money from related projects.

Meanwhile on Tuesday the Indonesian delegation warned
authorities in the country that they must understand the criteria
of forest-related projects and not expect them to be applied on
any available forest land.

Under the so called carbon trade mechanism, developing
countries get access to projects on reforestation and clean
energy projects carried out by developed countries.

That way countries like Indonesia gain some revenue while
industrialized nations get to meet part of their commitment to
cut carbon emission.

Indonesia alone is estimated to sell 16 million tons of carbon
emission reduction per year from forests while from clean energy
producers like geothermal power plants the government hopes to
sell 125 million tons to developed countries every year,
generating some US$500 million in the process.

"We have forest potential for carbon sinks that we can use for
our advantage," said Liana Bratasida, Deputy Minister of
Environment Preservation.

However, "The perception that all forests can be used for such
projects simply to raise money is wrong," said Liana, who heads
the Indonesian delegation to the 9th Climate Summit of the
Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention.

"The hard fight will be in making decision makers in our own
country understand the mechanism," she said.

Hopes are high here on putting the Kyoto Protocol, the above
treaty on cutting emission of harmful gases, into effect, despite
the refusal of the United States to ratify and Russia's delay.

The 1997 Protocol hangs by a thread pending ratification by at
least 55 parties. The treaty rules that carbon dioxide emissions
should be cut by 5 percent from levels in 1990 by 2008 to 2012.

Liana said that such projects could not be carried out on
forest land in national parks, which should be directly protected
and managed by the government.

She said the Indonesian delegation was renegotiating, among
other things, the definition of a forestry database line required
for forestry projects under the mechanism.

Indonesia expects that forestry database from 1999 onwards
would be allowed, since it would be hard to meet the initial
requirement of forestry database from below the year 1990.

Some groups however fear that the carbon trade idea might lead
to abuse to expropriate land and territories, thus violating
fundamental rights. Others insist that developing countries
should determine the use of such projects for their own advantage
as they would be hosting the projects.

Moekti H. Soejachmoen of Pelangi, a research body on
environment issues, earlier raised skepticism of the benefit of
such forestry projects in Indonesia.

"The clean development mechanism alone would not reduce forest
destruction and degradation. Not until there is real
institutional reform," she said.

Besides, she said, measures such as reforestation were not
likely to survive illegal logging, forest fires or changes in
regulations, making investment in forestry projects "very risky".

"Others, like renewable energy projects, are acceptable in the
present situation, not forestry," Moekti said.

In September in a regional forum Indonesia offered ten
projects, ranging from geothermal, hydro, biomass waste, energy
efficiency and the Java-Bali generator project to foreign buyers.