Hot Air: Skepticism over Indonesia’s COP26 deforestation commitments | News

Medan, Indonesia – As the COP26 Climate Change Conference continues in its second and final week in Glasgow, the commitment signed by more than 100 countries to tackle deforestation by the end of 2030 has resonated.

Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Russia and Indonesia, which together account for 85 percent of the world’s forests, are among the signatories to the agreement, which also includes $ 19 billion in financial assistance.

But UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is leading the summit, said the deal was “unprecedented” but not everyone was celebrating it.

“We believe that the initial commitment to reduce deforestation is positive, but it must go hand in hand with specific actions,” Uli Arta told Siagian, a forestry and planting activist at Wlihi (Indonesia’s Environmental Forum) in Uli Arta Siagian.

“The problem is that this commitment is contradictory to what Indonesian state officials are doing.”

Forests cover about 920,000 square kilometers (355,214 square miles) across the Southeast Asian archipelago and have long been subjected to the pressure of illegal logging and clearing of land, especially for agricultural plantations that produce palm oil and paper and pulp. About 10 percent of primary forest cover has been lost since 2001, according to Global Forest Watch.

Critics say officials have irrigated domestic legislation and have not taken action against those who are helping in deforested forests, despite their commitment to protecting forests.

Last week, at a conference on deforestation at COP26, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, said Indonesia, one of the world’s most biodiverse and resource-rich countries, is “committed to critical carbon sinks and our protection for future generations. natural capital ”.

Kiki Taufi, Greenpeace, the global leader of Indonesia’s Southeast Asian forest campaign, dismissed the comments as saying they were “nothing new and ambitious”.

Large industrial plantations of crops such as palm oil and pasta wood contribute to deforestation in Indonesia [File: /Willy Kurniawan/Reuters]

Taufik noted that Indonesia was one of the original signatories New York Forest Declaration, Agreed at the 2014 United Nations Climate Summit and pledged to Indonesia and other signatories to “halve the loss of natural forest by 2020 and strive to end it by 2030”.

Consumer goods companies also pledged to eliminate deforestation from the production of agricultural products, such as palm oil, soybeans, paper and beef products by 2020.

But Taufik said that although Indonesia is committed to protecting forests, it has not met those goals.

A Greenpeace report in collaboration with environmental map specialists TheTreeMap, released ahead of COP26, included five of the country’s oil palm plantations in critical watersheds, national parks and conservation areas designated as “national forest supply”. ‘when such activity is illegal. Indonesia is the world’s largest exporter of palm oil, which is used in a whole range of products from detergents to chocolate.

“Strong rules are needed to properly protect nature,” Taufik said in a statement, accusing governments of planning “another talk on deforestation at COP26”.

Healthy forests that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere have been shown to be key to keeping global warming below 1.5 C (2.7 F) and tackling climate change.

Deforestation, in addition to contributing to CO2 emissions, also causes devastating floods and fires, and the loss of flora and fauna, including endangered tigers and orangutans, as trees are cleared for extensive single-crop farms.

Lack of law

The Greenpeace report also highlighted a controversial amnesty scheme that would allow some Indonesian plantations to legalize their activities retroactively in 2020 and replace parts of the Prevention and Prevention Act 2013 under the Omnibus Job Creation Act (UU Cipta Kerja). Elimination of deforestation.

“The enactment of the Job Creation Act will increase the rate of deforestation in Indonesia,” he said in WALHI’s Siagian. “This law no longer establishes the obligation to maintain 40 percent of the forest in a forest area. Not to mention Articles 110 A and B, which allow for amnesty. That also exacerbates the lifting of the moratorium on palm oil. ”

Indonesia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world and has rare species, including orangutans, tigers and slow lorises. [File: Wahyudi/AFP]

The Job Creation Act replaced the moratorium on the development of new palm oil estates, which Jokowi launched in 2019 with the aim of halting deforestation, and expired in September.

Under the controversial new law, companies operating illegally have three years to adapt their activities to the law, and will not face criminal penalties if they break them.

WALHI’s Siagian says the result is likely to be more permits for planting and more deforestation.

Greenpeace’s Taufik acknowledges that the key to tackling deforestation in Indonesia lies in tightening laws to support climate change efforts and clearing the supply chain to ensure consumers don’t buy consumer products from plantations associated with deforestation.

“We need to end deforestation immediately, backed by internal laws and policies that recognize local and indigenous land rights and properly protect forests. [and] eliminating deforestation through supply chains, ”he said.

Indonesia questioned COP26’s commitment to deforestation when Siti Nurbaya Bakar’s country’s environment and forestry minister went on Twitter to call the deal “unfair” on November 3, adding that “the massive development of President Jokowi’s time”. we must not stop in the name of carbon emissions or deforestation ”.

Comments that were part of a broader set of 18 tweets about Indonesia’s development and environmental issues sparked demonstrations in the capital Jakarta on Friday and were strongly condemned by conservationists.

Members of only one political party, the National Democrats (NasDem), however, have defended the comments, saying it is committed to protecting the environment.

“The statement must be seen in its entirety,” Ahmad SH, a member of West Nusa Tenggara West Nusa Tenggara, told Al Jazeera. “As I see it, he didn’t want to ignore environmental protection. In fact, he is very committed. Development is not just about environmental issues, it’s about bringing the two together. “

He added that the government’s commitment to development and the environment must be seen as a “joint effort” that includes all political parties and civil society organizations.

Capital crisis

Jokowi’s latest commitment is that the president is planning a new capital for the country in the East Kalimantan province of Borneo, Indonesia, where indigenous people have long struggled to protect their lands and sustain the spread of plantations.

The city will cover 25.6 square kilometers (10 square miles) of the main rural land to the east of the island and provide housing for 1.5 million people.

Work has already begun on a large dam to supply water to the new capital. Similar projects such as the implementation of the city’s electricity supply are expected to begin soon, following a $ 32 billion commitment due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“It was announced that the concept of the new capital would belong to a ‘Green City’, but how can you have a ‘Green City’ everywhere when you are building walls? he said.

Game President Widodo Indonesia is inspecting an area that will become part of the country’s new capital by 2024. [File: Akbar Nugroho Gumay/Antara Foto via Reuters]

The Jokowi government aims to move away from Jakarta, the current capital, before the end of its second term in 2024. The lower city is prone to flooding and suffers from environmental problems ranging from polluted rivers to smog.

While the problems in Jakarta are being resolved, however, Naem says people in East Kalimantan are concerned that the new capital will accelerate environmental destruction in an area where wood sludge has covered rivers and increased flooding.

“Years ago, there was no problem with water here. People never dried up and the water they always got from the rivers was always clean. When the companies started working here, however, the rivers changed color and became polluted so that more water could be used for drinking or bathing, ”he said.

According to a Greenpeace report, more than 730 square kilometers (282 square miles) of oil palm, an area about the size of Singapore, is planted on an Indonesian forest estate in East Kalimantan.

“The president should focus on returning Kalimantan to its former state, but the new capital will make things worse,” Naem said.

“Jokowi says the right things when he’s in an international forum, but that’s not the same as what we’re seeing in the field.”