PEMANASAN GLOBAL, SKEMA GLOBAL DAN IMPLIKASINYA BAGI INDONESIA

Abstract

Indonesia has been the focus of much international attention over recent years due to its increasingly prominent role in creating greenhouse gas emissions. It has emerged the third highest carbon dioxide emitting country in the world after the United States and China. During the meeting of the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP-13) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bali in 2007, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing countries (REDD) emerged as a prominent component of any future efforts to mitigate climate change. REDD aims to stabilise the atmospheric concentration of CO2 at as low a level as possible through a system of financial reward for halting or slowing rates of deforestation. But in the reality, what is happen now is only about emission trading. Another concern with linking REDD to markets relates to the issue of national sovereignty over natural resources. Both at the national and community levels we may see a loss of autonomy over natural resources as third parties gain increasing influence over natural resource decisions. There is significant inconsistency between stated government aims regarding forest protection and official government policy. While the government publicly declares its intentions to effectively tackle climate change and reduce forest destruction, it just the last 12 months it has established a number of damaging regulations which seek to do just the opposite. And Finally, in February 2009, the Agriculture Ministry issued a decree allowing businesses to convert millions of hectares of peatlands into oil palm plantations. Opening up these peatland areas risks releasing huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. The decree has been conditionally approved by the Environment Minister and is expected to go into force later this year. The decision is strangely at odds with the Agriculture Ministry’s previous position - in 2007 it released a letter asking governors to stop the conversion peatlands into oil palm plantations. This stark contradiction has led to claims that the government is attempting to satisfy powerful business interests in the lead up to the general election later this year.The Indonesian government’s commitment to real and meaningful reductions in deforestation must be seriously questioned when such glaring inconsistencies abound.