Indonesia is set to receive a 56 million USD grant from Norway as the first payment for the Southeast Asian nation’s success in reducing deforestation and carbon emissions under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD ) cooperation scheme.

The Tomawankng Ompu' communal forest. (Photo: https://www.thejakartapost.com/)

According to a statement from the Indonesian Environment and Forestry Ministry issued on May 21, the grant would be handed over in June – coinciding with the commemoration of a decade of climate funding cooperation in which Indonesia would receive a total of 1 billion USD for protecting its tropical forests.

Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya said the grant was a result-based payment.

“This is going to be the first payment for Indonesia’s achievement in its REDD effort during the period between 2016 and 2017,” The Jakarta Post newspaper quoted the minister as saying.

The ministry reported to Norway that Indonesia saw a decline in the deforestation rate in the 2016-2017 period, with 480,000 hectares of forest lost that was believed to have prevented the release of about 4.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions to the atmosphere – a figure lower than the baseline agreed upon by both countries.

According to the verification process conducted by the Norwegian government from November last year to March, the emissions reduction achieved by Indonesia in the 2016-2017 period was counted at 11.2 million tonnes CO2e – higher than its initial report of 4.8 million tonnes.

According to Minister Siti, each tonne of CO2e under the scheme is valued at 5 USD, referring to the price designated by the World Bank for the REDD scheme.

She said Indonesia expects to receive another round of payments for its progress in the 2017-2018 period and onward.

The fund will be channeled through the Indonesian Environmental Estate Fund (BPDLH), a public service agency tasked with managing funds related to environmental protection and conservation. The agency was launched in October last year.

The fund will be used to finance community-based environmental recovery efforts under President Joko Widodo’s direction.

Source: VNA