Gov’t Committed to Promoting Low Carbon Development

The Environment and Forestry Minister gives a press statement after attending a limited meeting at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Monday (6/7). (Photo by: Agung/PR)

The Government has renewed commitment to encourage low-carbon development including guidelines and plans on carbon trading and carbon offsets.

“If one cleared the land for a project then he had to plant it again, it is called offset. Some are in the forms of carbon contracts,” Minister of the Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya said after attending a limited meeting at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Monday (6/7).

Under the guidelines, according to the Minister, the land may also be used by private sector, the Government, and the people including if people plant trees, they must be given access to plant trees, namely carbon services.

The guidelines also cover stock by adopting commodity market model, which will be based in Jakarta.

The Government, the Minister continued, has conducted an analysis of types of land cover such as shrubs, primary forests, secondary forests, bushes, and others by adopting Indonesian national standards.

“Deforestation means a change or reduction in primary forest which is converted to a non-forest use. We adopt the 2014 Indonesian National Standard (SNI). There will be an SNI code,” the Minister said.

On that occasion, the Minister pointed out that there are also other ways to calculate which do not fit the Indonesian standard.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo also reminded that Indonesia has enormous natural resources, particularly peatland, mangrove, and tropical rain forests, she said, adding that the country’s forested land covers approximately 125 million hectares in the area and on land it is around 120 million hectares.

“As for mangroves, it covers approximately three million more. The data shows, for example, in Sumatra, it covers 835 thousand hectares, in Kalimantan 1.448 million hectares, in Papua 846 thousand hectares. The peatland in Sumatra covers 9.65 million hectares, and in Kalimantan it covers 8.791 million hectares,” she said.

In this regard, according to the Minister, Indonesia stores enormous carbon so the combined peat can store 1,000 tons per hectare.

If compared to tropical forests, it is approximately 200 tons, while mangrove land can store 227 tons per hectare with only for the upper part and there is a potential at the bottom, she said.

The President, she added, also ordered that all of these potentials must be concrete during the pandemic such as green sukuk (Sharia bonds), green bonds, and others.

During the ongoing pandemic, the country’s green sukuk has gained the attention of the international markets so the President ordered to focus on restoring the environment, she added.

“The effort is done by conducting vast mangrove reforestation in Tarakan [North Kalimantan], Balikpapan [East Kalimantan], or in other places in accordance with the President’s directives,” the Minister said. (TGH/EN)

Translator: Muhardi
Reviewed by: M. Ersan Pamungkas