News | Energy Efficiency

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/05/25/indonesia-join-redd-partnership-oslo-meeting.html

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is slated to leave for Oslo Tuesday to attend the Oslo Climate and Forest Conference to forge new partnerships in climate change and forestry affairs.

Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said the Oslo talks aimed to facilitate voluntary, coordinated and transparent partnerships between developed and developing countries in realizing the REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) initiatives, as well as quick-start funding.
“The Oslo Climate and Forest Conference is very significant to Indonesia, considering that one-fifth of total global greenhouse gas emissions come from land conversion, especially deforestation,” he said.
“We hope the amount pledged [for the implementation of the REDD plus scheme] will rise to between US$4 billion and $5 billion at the conference”.
Dino said the President was specifically seeking to put the REDD plus scheme into action by sealing a deal with Norway.
“President Yudhoyono will meet with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to sign a letter of intent [LOI] on partnership in the forestry sector,” he said. “The partnership will signify the first international support for the implementation of REDD plus.”
Yudhoyono’s meeting with Stoltenberg is slated for Wednesday.
Dino said Indonesia and Norway were hoping to be pioneers in creating a model of partnership for the implementation of REDD plus that could be followed by other countries.
“We want to be a game changer; pushing forward the climate change deal process, which has always met deadlocks, to slowly but surely progressing.”
Dino said among outcomes expected from the bilateral meeting was a figure of Norway’s commitment for implementation of REDD plus in Indonesia, and a clear model for the implementation of the scheme in other forest countries with support from other donor countries.
“This is an interim, not permanent action. We hope that the process started by Indonesia and Norway can help construct a deal at the [COP16] climate change meeting in Cancun, Mexico.”
Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said separately that leaders from 10 countries would launch the REDD plus partnerships at the Oslo conference on May 27.
He said Indonesia would also sign a LOI on a $1 billion financial pledge with the government of
Norway.
“The LOI will be signed by Forestry Minister [Zulkifli Hasan] and witnessed by President Yudhoyono,” Gusti said Monday.
Environment Ministry expert staff and senior negotiator on climate talks, Liana Bratasida, said REDD partnerships aimed to seek solutions on how to realize financial pledges made during the Copenhagen summit.
“The partnership is a breakthrough to realizing pledged quick-start funding to finance the REDD scheme,” she said.
Liana said the Oslo conference was an informal meeting to seek solutions on REDD negotiations but the result would be reported to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.