REDD ON CLIMATE CHANGE CANNOT GIVE MUCH BENEFIT

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 28 (ANTARA) - The Adaptation Fund is one of the topics that will be discussed in the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the Indonesian tourist resort island of Bali next week.

        Delegates from over 160 countries are expected to attend the two-week conference to address increasing global warming that poses a threat to the planet and its inhabitants.

        As host country, Indonesia has drafted a mechanism plan called Reductions of Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD). The REDD will be proposed by developing countries to the conference to gain financial incentives from developed states.

        Under the REDD scheme, developing countries would market tons of carbon stored in their forests to developed countries who have obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emission.

        "The REDD is to be proposed by developing countries who have tropical rain forests as one of the schemes designed to address climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012," Minister of the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said.

        The Kyoto Protocol, which entered into force in 2005, laid down the practical commitments assumed by states party to implement the Framework Convention's goal of mitigating global warming.

        Indonesia, host of 120.3 million hectares of forests, will set aside 37.5 million hectares of its forests for the REDD project. "If one hectare is paid US$10 a year, Indonesia will gain US$3.75 billion every year," the minister said.

        Minister Rachmat Witoelar said that at present, developed states were estimated to have set adaptation fund program amounting to between US$20 and US$30 billion a year.

        The REDD scheme is however not viewed to be a maximal means for addressing climate change problem. "The so called REDD mechanism designed to reduce gas emission from deforestation in developing countries cannot be a single tool to address climate change," Emil Salim, environment expert and Indonesian chief negotiator for the UNFCCC in Bali, said.

        He said that the REDD would not create direct impact because pollution would continue to take place in line with the process. In case of Indonesia, it would be required to make a national action plan on climate change.

        "There must be a period of time to last before the REDD's impact could be felt. Therefore, we should continue to mitigate and adapt to climate change whose influence has been felt by Indonesia today," Emil Salim said.

        In the meantime, Elfian Effendi, executive director of Greenomics Indonesia, a natural resources advocacy non-governmental organization, said the REDD scheme with which Indonesia is expected to get US$3.75 billion incentive a year, belittled the economic value of Indonesian forests.

        He said Indonesian forests held 7,000 megatons of carbon concentration with an economic value of about US$134.5 billion.

        Advanced countries must pay 134.5 billion dollars if they wanted to prevent Indonesia from releasing 7,000 megatons of carbon into the atmosphere through deforestation.

        Virtually, Indonesia has a strong bargaining position it could use to fight for its goals in Bali conference. Indonesia's forests function as the world's biggest carbon absorbers and place of carbon concentration.

        According to Elfian, Indonesia still had 36.5 million hectares of conservation and protected forests, which, due to its ability to absorb carbon, had an economic value of about 105-113.7 billion US dollars.

        Besides protected forests, Indonesia also still has another 36.7 million hectares of production forests which have an economic value of about 111.46 - 120.74 billion dollars.

        The combined economic value of the protected and production forests, due to their capacity to absorb carbon, reached between 216.4 and 234.4 billion, he said.

        "If advanced states want Indonesia to be at zero deforestation position on its production forests, they have to pay some 278.6 billion dollars as compensation," Elfian said

        Therefore, Elfian suggested that Indonesia should not be too ambitious about the REDD mechanism because it would adversely reduce the economic value of Indonesia's forests.

        According to Elfian, the REDD would be difficult to be applied in Indonesia because law enforcement in the country is still weak. "There are 18 institutions who failed to apply Presidential Instruction No. 4 / 2005 on Illegal Logging and Log Smuggling," he said.

        The REDD scheme has the potential to put a burden on the state budget because based on the REDD provision, if the forests set aside for the REDD conservation program, are cut down illegally, Indonesia must pay a compensation.

        "The resource to pay the compensation will surely come from the state budget while the burden that has been borne by the state budget has been very heavy," Elfian said.

        Therefore, Elfian called on the Indonesian delegation to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to propose a debt write-off to advanced states because at present foreign debts are posing a heavy burden to Indonesia.

        "In 2008, the installment payments of Indonesia's foreign debts will reach Rp151.2 trillion while its revenues from the exploitation of its natural resources reached only Rp119 trillion," Effendi said. (A014/A/HNG/b005) 2. 00:10 (T.A014/A/A014/B005) 29-11-2007 00:09:50