Statement By Prof. Dr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of The Republic of Indonesia at The UNI Climate Summit, New York, 23 September 2014
Your Excellencies Heads of State and Government,
Your Excellency Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to share with you, in this important Summit, my thoughts on two key elements of Indonesias policy on climate change: multilateral cooperation, and a set of actions at the national level that robustly address the challenge.
On multilateral cooperation, I believe that we need to redouble our efforts to conclude a new legally binding agreement for post 2020 climate change framework. I must underline here that the agreement should uphold the principle of equity covering mitigation, adaptation, and frameworks for implementation. We must exert our utmost efforts to produce a new Climate Change Agreement in Paris next year.
On its part, Indonesia has taken a number of strategic measures to address the challenge of climate change. These include:
First, Indonesia has voluntarily pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2020. That target will go up to 41 percent with international support. To better achieve this pledge, we have put in place moratorium for new licenses on primary forests and peat land since May 2011.
Second, Indonesia is resolutely battling deforestation and land degradation. For this purpose, I have among others established the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) Management Agency, which is tasked with improving forest governance. I am pleased to mention that with close cooperation with the Government of Norway we can deliver both the emission reduction and increase welfare for the local people in our forest and peat land areas.
Third, we are now exploring the potency of our blue carbon ecosystems as a carbon sink. This could support the global effort to maintain the temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius.
And fourth, Indonesia has signed the letter of acceptance of the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol.
Excellencies,
Finally, Indonesia stands ready to strengthen cooperation with our partners at bilateral and regional level. Partnership is a must.
I thank you