President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono led Thursday a plenary Cabinet meeting which discussed follow-up actions of a newly agreed forestry partnership between Indonesia and Norway.
The President said that while 2010 would be a planning stage for the use of US$1 billion of funds for forestry management from Norway, the period between 2011 and 2013 would see implementation of the agreement in a number of pilot projects.
Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa said after the meeting that a number of provinces had been proposed as candidates for the pilot projects, including Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, West Sumatra and Papua.
“In 2011 a province will be chosen for the pilot project. At the second phase, more provinces will take part in the pilot projects. And in the third phase from 2014 to 2016 we will conduct the project nationwide,” Hatta said.
By October of this year the government will have to establish three institutions that will manage financial aspect; monitoring, reporting and verification issues regarding Indonesia’s joint efforts with donor countries to reduce the country’s carbon emissions; and the implementation of the REDD-Plus scheme, according to Hatta.
“These institutions will involve elements from the government, NGOs and local communities. They will work directly under the President and report to him,” Hatta said.
He added that the partnership with Norway on reducing Indonesia’s emissions through forest protection signed in Oslo last week would be handled by the three institutions.
“The forestry partnership with Norway will be part of our national action programs [to reduce the country’s emissions by 26 percent in 2020],” he said.
