Norway and Indonesia in partnership to reduce emissions from deforestation

Norway and Indonesia agreed today to enter into a partnership to support Indonesia’s efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation of forests and peat lands. Indonesia will take immediate and decisive action to reduce its forest and peat related greenhouse gas emissions. Norway will support those efforts with one billion USD over the next few years.

• Watch a web cast of the press conference
• Photos from the event on Flickr
• Letter of Intent between Norway and Indonesia

“Indonesia is a key country in terms of reducing deforestation, therefore this agreement and Indonesias commitment is a great step forward in achieving large scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,” said Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. “I look forward to cooperating with President Yudhoyono and Indonesia on this important issue.”

The announcement was made at a joint press conference held by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and the Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg. Their announcements coincide with the upcoming Oslo Climate and Forest Conference, where a global climate and forest partnership will be established.

Funds will initially be devoted to finalizing Indonesia’s climate and forest strategy, building and institutionalizing capacity to monitor, report and verify reduced emissions, and puting in place enabling policies and institutional reforms. A two-year suspension on new concessions on conversion of natural forests and peat lands into plantations will be implemented. By 2014, the plan is to move to an Indonesian-wide instrument of funding contributions in return for verified emission reductions. Funds will be managed by an internationally reputable financial institution according to international fiduciary, governance, environmental and social standards.

“Indonesia stands by its commitment to reduce our emissions by 26 per cent relative to business as usual levels by 2020. This we will do out of our own funds through a set of measures I will be announcing in the near future,” stated President Yudhoyono. “With the help of international partners, we could reduce our emissions by as much as 41 per cent.”

“President Yudhoyono’s global leadership on climate change is admirable. Indonesia now wants to drastically reduce its forest and peat emissions in a transparent and verifiable manner. We are very pleased to be able to support those efforts”, stated Prime Minister Stoltenberg.

In a declaration of support for the partnership, Mr. Abdon Nababan, secretary general of AMAN, the nation-wide indigenous peoples alliance in Indonesia, stated that “Indigenous peoples of Indonesia support this Partnership, and will contribute to the planning and implementation of the measures, provided we can continue to exercise our rights and traditional knowledge to have sustainable livelihood from forest ecosystems.”

”To succeed in the global battle against climate change, we need robust, action-oriented partnerships between developing and developed countries. President Yudhoyono of Indonesia and Prime Minister Stoltenberg of Norway are both global leaders on climate change. That they have now come together in an ambitious partnership to reduce emissions from deforestation, forest degradation and peatland destruction in Indonesia is good news for the world.  I encourage others to join their efforts, and to create their own partnerships to help put the world on the path to sustainable, climate-resilient growth,” comments secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon of the United Nations.

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Indonesia has the largest emissions from deforestation and degradation of forests and tropical peat land. Forests are disappearing at a rate of more than a million hectares per year. Indonesia has the third largest forest area in the world and half of the world’s tropical peatlands. With 17,000 islands, Indonesia is a mega biodiversity country – one of the five most species diverse countries in the world. Because of the multiple threats to its forests and their associated biodiversity, Indonesia has been identified, by all recent international priority-setting exercises, as a global priority for actions to conserve biodiversity.