Jakarta, Dec 7 (Antara) - Indonesia, that has the largest tropical forest in the world, needs to adopt an appropriate approach to check the forest fires that happen almost every year.
A forum during the on-going 21st Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris, France, also touched upon the issue of annual Indonesian forest fires.
The issue was raised during the Global Landscape Forum, organized by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) at the Palais de Congres, Paris, France, on Saturday.
Director for Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) Indonesia Fitrian Ardiansyah told the forum that the Indonesian government needed to adopt a landscaping approach to overcome the forest fires occurring for the past few years.
He said various countries have successfully used the landscaping approach. It was also mentioned in the 'The Little Sustainable Landscape Book,' launched by the CIFOR and various environment organizations at the forum.
Fitrian said the landscape approach outlined management of the area in an integrated fashion and involved the concerned parties, ranging from the government and the private sector to the people.
"Because river basin areas and fires are not confined to any boundaries, landscape approach is important to tackle this issue," Fitrian said.
The participants raised the issue of these fires that led to hazardous smoke and wanted to know the efforts being made by the Indonesian government to deal with the issue," the IDH director said.
According to Fitrian, landscape is also related to the ecosystem approach and all parties, particularly private companies that own forest concessions, will have to play a vital role.
In landscape approach, any tendency towards compartmentalized egoism should be avoided, including among the regional governments, because the administration of the landscape strategy and ecosystem must proceed in a seamless manner.
The IDH and a number of other institutions, he said, are trying to encourage the regional governments to initiate landscape-based forest management, particularly the regional governments of South Sumatra, Aceh and West Kalimantan.
"South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin is committed to implementing a landscape-based forest area and ecosystem management," he said.
The regional government's commitment to using the landscape and ecosystem approaches will include a policy to stop issuing permits for the exploitation of peatland for various purposes, to set up fire-free villages and to boost green economic growth.
Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said earlier that the government has outlined steps to overcome forest and land fires. One of the steps is to impose a moratorium on the issuance of new licenses and evaluate the old permits for peat land exploitation.
As a preliminary step, the government will impose a moratorium on the issuance of exploitation permits to companies willing to cultivate peat forest areas. It will also revitalize the peat land that has been exploited and burnt.
The policy was put forth in a limited cabinet meeting in Jakarta last October which was chaired by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). This meeting, attended by the relevant ministers, was held to discuss the problem of haze and its impact that plagued the country for over three months.
"The government will set up a Peatland Ecoystem Restoration Agency to ensure that the management of peatforest is carried out comprehensively," Minister Siti Nurbaya said.
The formation of the new agency is aimed to reduce carbon emissions from land and forest exploitation as President Joko Widodo stated during the Leaders Event of the COP 21 in Paris on November 30, 2015.
The management in the forest and land sector is an endeavor to mitigate the climate change and to achieve the Indonesian target in cutting 29 percent of its emissions by its own efforts 41 percent with international assistance.
In its effort to cut its emissions, the Indonesian government through the Environment and Forestry Ministry has also launched Indonesian National Carbon Accounting System (INCAS) in land use and conversion of forest function on the sidelines of the Global Landscape Forum (GLF0) in Paris.
The launch of the INCAS was led by Indonesian Special Envoy for Climate Change Rachmat Witoelar, Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt and Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) Peter Holmgren.
In his address, Rachmat Witoelar said the INCAS which is based on data of the National Institution of Aviation and Space (Lapan) will enable Indonesia to monitor the developments of its emission cut which is targeted at 29 percent in 2030.
"We are resolved to overcome the problem of the climate change issue and have the commitment to cut 29 percent of our carbon emissions," Rachmat said.
Rachmat appreciated the support of CIFOR and Australian Aid which helped the Indonesian Environment and Forestry Ministry to accomplish the system which has been tested by experts. INCAS, he said, is a unit under the management of the Research, Development and Innovation Center of the Ministry Environment and Forestry.
Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt appreciated the hard work of INCAS researcher team so that it was able to accomplish the carbon emission accounting system which is accessible to the public.
He said it was a big progress in the carbon emission accounting system and Indonesia is one of the world biggest host countries of mangroves and tropical forests that need such a technology.
Previously, the Adviser of the Indonesian delegation at COP 21, Christianto Wibisono said in a written statement released on Thursday (Dec 3) that as the lungs of the world, Indonesia's forests must be preserved.
But as the owner of the world's third largest forest cover, Indonesia should also not be banned from exploiting and managing its forests for the sake of its people's prosperity, he added.
"In principle, we will strive for the management of forests as the nation's productive assets by always conserving them," Christianto said.
To that end, there must be explanations about the importance of synergy between ecology and economy to become an issue that Indonesia will raise at the COP 21, he said.
"By doing so, Indonesia will no longer be dictated to by developed nations and non-governmental organizations to use forests under the pretext of environmental conservation," said Christianto.
Therefore, he added that Indonesia must be able to explain the synergy between the two seemingly contrasting dimensions at COP 21.
"We must not be dictated by any developed nations and NGOs in empowering economic assets. However, Indonesia must be able to serve as a policy maker," he pointed out. ***4***
(A014/INE/B003)EDITED BY INE(T.A014/A/BESSR/Bustanuddin) 07-12-2015 21:42:2 |
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