Jakarta (ANTARA) - Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni affirmed on Tuesday that Indonesia remains open to collaboration with various international partners to support forest conservation and rehabilitation efforts in Nusantara.Speaking after the opening of the Kick-Off Meeting for the Concept Note and New Funding Proposal for the REDD+ GCF Phase II RBP, Antoni stated that with or without foreign support, the government continually strives to protect forests and support community welfare through sustainable resource use.
"However, if this is part of a global issue and the world is involved in contributing to what we are working on, we are very open to collaborating with the GCF and other funding agencies," he stated.
Indonesia has received its first-phase results-based payment (RBP) funding from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) amounting to US$103.78 million under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus (REDD+) scheme.
The payment reflected a verified reduction of 20.25 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in the forestry sector from 2014 to 2016.
Furthermore, Indonesia has partnered with the Norwegian government under a results-based contribution (RBC) funding arrangement, which has now entered its fifth phase. Negotiations are underway for the payment of RBC-5, which could amount to around Rp1 trillion.
Earlier, under RBC-1, Indonesia received US$56 million for reducing 11.2 million tons of CO2e in the 2016-2017 period.
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Meanwhile, for RBC-2 and RBC-3, payments were disbursed simultaneously, totaling US$100 million for a combined reduction of 20 million tons of CO2e in the 2017-2019 period.
Antoni stated that beyond inter-governmental cooperation and funding agencies, his government is also seeking access to the carbon market to monetize emission reductions from the forestry sector.
He noted that integrating the forestry sector into Indonesia's carbon trading system awaits the revision of Presidential Regulation Number 98 of 2021 on the Implementation of Carbon Economic Values for the Achievement of Nationally Determined Contribution Targets and Control of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in National Development.
The revision of Presidential Regulation Number 98 of 2021 will enable private sector investment in forest rehabilitation.
"We have approximately 6.5 million hectares in the forestry sector that are defined as degraded land, critical land. By opening this voluntary carbon market, we hope that investment will be generated to plant in these barren areas," Antoni remarked.
