A new five-year collaboration between Norway and Indonesia has been signed, aiming to cut carbon emissions by protecting and restoring rainforest. Green groups hope that the deal will inspire other countries to cooperate with Indonesia too.
Norway will provide annual payments – about $1 billion in total – to an environment fund managed by Indonesia, in line with showing emissions from deforestation have been avoided or reduced through conservation efforts.
This happens after Indonesia ended a previous accord with the Scandinavian country, due to disagreements and ‘slow progress in releasing payments based on the results of work to curb forest loss.’
Another chance, but higher standards
Hopefully it’ll be different this time. Aditya Bayunanda, acting chief executive of green group WWF Indonesia, knows what it takes:
“Strong communication, data-sharing and transparency will be key elements to making (the partnership) a success. This also helps pave the way for donor funding from other countries to help support the restoration and conservation of Indonesia’s forests,” he said to Reuters.
He then explained how the new Norwegian money, coming from the country’s development aid budget, should only be perceived as initial funds, with the intention of leveraging bigger bi- and multilateral funds.
Head of the UN-REDD Programme for preserving forests, Mario Boccucci, said that despite Indonesia being ranked as the fourth highest country for deforestation in 2021, they have brought down the deforestation rates to their lowest level in 20 years. However, Indonesia need more partnerships like this one to keep the Paris Agreement within reach, Boccucci added.
Source: Eco Business
