Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Forestry stated that the existence of peatlands in forest areas is an important factor in supporting the development of carbon trading in the forestry sector in Indonesia.The Ministry’s Director of Forestry Utilization Business Development, Ilham, stated that the carbon potential of Indonesia’s forestry sector is enormous, considering that forested areas are expected to reach 95.5 million hectares by 2025.
He made this statement at a meeting regarding changes to the development of the carbon trading ecosystem in the forestry sector, here on Friday.
“The additionality is also significant, where additionality represents the potential for carbon credits. Why is it significant? Because most of our forests are peat. This peatland carries a high risk of forest fires,” he explained.
Additionality is the aspect that provides added value to traded carbon. This means special efforts are needed to ensure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions.
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The absence of additionality can result in the categorization of carbon credits as low-quality because emission reduction activities will still occur even without funding from the sale of carbon credits.
He said he was still unable to provide a definite figure for the amount of carbon from the forestry sector that could be sold on the voluntary carbon market.
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However, he ensured that the traded carbon potential of the forestry sector would not disrupt the achievement of national climate targets as stated in the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
“The number is very high. However, because the number is high, we are confident that it will not disrupt the NDC. Because, based on existing data, our FOLU (Forestry and Other Land Use) net sink was achieved in 2024,” he said.
