INDONESIA

Indonesia

PROGRESS AGAINST THE WARSAW FRAMEWORK

NS/AP: Indonesia’s National REDD+ Strategy was released in 2012. It is included in the updated NDC submitted in July, 2021 which reflects its progress beyond the previous NDC from 2016 in four areas:

enhanced ambition on adaptation;

enhanced clarity on mitigation by adopting the Paris Agreement (although the actual targets remain only slightly increased);

national context that relates the existing conditions (especially the COVID-19 pandemic), along with national development goals for the period of 2020-2024 and indicative pathways towards Indonesia’s long-term vision for 2045 and the Long-Term Strategy on Low Carbon and Climate Resilient Development 2050 which is much more ambitious;

translating the Paris Agreement Rule Book into Indonesia’s context in elaborated chapters on the transparency framework at the national level (National Registry System as the backbone of transparency framework) and the means of implementation (finance, technology development and transfer and capacity building).

FREL/FRL: The second FREL document covering 2006-2020 is the national reference for RBP 2021 and includes deforestation, forest degradation, peat degradation and enhancement. Each province will be assigned emission reduction targets (sub-national FREL). The BPDLH, known Indonesia Environment Fund , will be a primary channel to distribute the performance-based money to
the provinces that have good emission results. Based on the first FREL. The country’s REDD+ achievement within the period of 2013-2017 has been reported in the Technical Annex of the 2nd Biennial Update Report submitted in 2018. There it stated emission reductions of 244.9 M ton CO2e or in average 48.9 M ton CO2eannually. A National Registration System has been established based on the MOEF Minister Regulation No.71/2017 regarding Implementation National Registry System for Climate Change.

NFMS: Indonesia continued to improve its NFMS with capacity development supported by UN-REDD, including workshops on the latest forest mapping tools from FAO called Earthmap and high-resolution daily satellite imagery from Planet Labs for improving measurement and reporting on deforestation, degradation and forest fires. FAO successfully completed a project that was initiated by UN-REDD but funded separately for $1.6 million by Norway. The Innovative Peat Restoration Information and Monitoring System (PRIMS) completed reporting in 2021.

Two new tools were developed and Indonesian capacity developed. Innovative FAO SEPAL open-source satellite data processing modules were created to produce vegetation-cover change maps and estimates of soil moisture across peatland landscapes and to assess land cover changes and progress of restoration impacts. These new products enable estimates of soil moisture over millions of hectares that was not possible efore. In addition, a user-friendly tool for quickly estimating Indonesian GHG emissions from land-use changes was developed to support land managers and planners in evaluating management options and in assessing the impacts of various alternative choices in peatlands landscapes. This was developed in 2018- 20 and published in 2021 (links here for manuals, videos).

In 2021, FAO also started a new project funded by Norway to help Indonesia redesign the National Forest Inventory and monitoring system that was developed and facilitated through initial funding by UN-REDD. The TA work has supported MoEF, BRGM and other
agencies in using high-resolution data and multi-date time series imagery, contributing to GoI’s work for an updated NDC in 2021.

SIS: Indonesia’s REDD+ safeguards information system (SIS) was legally enshrined in 2017.

Forest solutions realized. This work area included

continued capacity building for the International Tropical Peat Center (ITPC) to enhance collaboration and knowledge sharing with Western Pacific countries, the two Congo’s and countries in the Amazon basin and Andes uplands;

operationalization of the “Cluster Approach” to wildfire management in three provinces: Riau, South Sumatra and Central Kalimantan, in collaboration with the Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs;

and, technical assistance to BPDLH to develop innovative blended finance solutions to enable the GoI to accelerate its REDD+ achievement meeting targets.

UN-REDD collaborated with the World Bank to provide technical inputs for two Executive Director’s Regulations for the Indonesian Environment Fund (IEF, previously BLU BPDLH), guidelines for REDD+ funds disbursement (enacted), as well as the soon-to-be enacted Guidelines on Environmental and Social Safeguards framework.

Forest solutions rewarded. This work area included:

Technical assistance provided to BPDLH, MOEF and relevant jurisdictions to assess opportunities from international carbon markets based on upcoming carbon pricing legalization (from mid-2021 onwards).

UN-REDD is also working to generate blended finance support for an agroforestry bamboo-based initiative in Eastern Indonesia through a combination of a GEF grant and TLFF impact investments in a bamboo fibre board factory.

With the Presidential Regulation on Economic Value of Carbon endorsed in October, 2021, UN-REDD is supporting IEF to clarify roles and responsibilities for implementation. Complementary to this technical assistance was a debrief to IEF on the key outcomes and remaining challenges for Article 6 in the wake of COP26 and implications for the Government of Indonesia. In parallel, UN-REDD is also engaging with IEF and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to develop market and non-market-based instruments for the forestry sector based on postCOP26 outcomes.

Forest solutions enhanced. Support for the NDC implementation roadmap is ongoing in agreement with UNDP’s Climate Promise support.

UN-REDD started work on identifying urgent gaps in emissions reporting that will enhance climate change reporting with good discussions with CIFOR on combining their mangrove plot data with FAO satellite data for improved activity to improve emission estimates.

onsultations on Indonesia’s participation in a new UN-REDD Social Forestry ASEAN Initiative, Climate change mitigation through social forestry actions in ASEAN countries, funded by Switzerland were held with both MoEF-Social Forestry and the Director-General (DG) for Social Forestry and Environment Partnership in late 2021. The DG was supportive of the proposed deliverables and project outline, and it was agreed that the coordination of activities will be through the MoEF DG for Social Forestry (DG SF) with further consultation with the DG for Climate change to be finalized in 2022.

To help fill an important area of high uncertainty in GHG emissions frompeatlands, UN-REDD participated in the delivery of two events including one with the Indonesian Vice-Minister for Environment and Forests and international participation through the Global Peatlands Initiative in February and March (online summaries here). Among the important conclusions was that wet and healthy peatlands are the only sustainable pathway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, fires and peatland degradation and to prevent the loss of lives and livelihoods.

CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS
The biggest challenge faced by Indonesia during 2021 was again caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting travel ban, office closures and lockdowns. Solutions used by the UN country team included increased use of online meetings and sharing documents with Indonesian partners. This has worked in many cases, although is not always possible to replace in-person meetings for some training or meetings.

Furthermore, the process of formally renewing of the engagement of the UN-REDD Programme with the Ministry – as requested by the MOEF in August 2021 – has resulted in temporary pausing TA planning and implementation. A formal letter has been sent by the Head of the UNREDD Programme to the Secretary General of the MOEF to confirm Indonesia’s participation in the Global 2022-2025 Technical Assistance Multiyear Plan. Upon receipt of a response, TA planning and implementation will resume to normal.

UN-REDD continued the assessment of Indonesia’s Fire Danger Rating Systems (FDRS) and review of fire EFs and prepared draft reports. Changes in staff, restructuring of MoEF staff and difficulties with communication and meetings due to COVID-19 have slowed progress, with the presentation of the FDRS and fire Emission Factor work anticipated in 2022.

The termination of the Norway Indonesian’s Letter of Intent in 2021 by Indonesia has currently stopped the RBPs from Norway, but other RBP funds are continuing through GCF, World Bank and other voluntary and private schemes. The government is still actively pursuing wider private sector involvement through carbon finance regulations.

GENDER AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
There has been positive progress on the involvement of youth, women and indigenous peoples in the communityled fire brigades initiative. Safeguards considerations, including on gender and social inclusion, have also been incorporated in the development of
IEF’s soon-to-be enacted Guidelines on Environmental and Social Safeguards framework.

PARTNERSHIPS
UN-REDD is advancing partnerships with the private sector, facilitated by UNEP through TLFF partners, Agri3 facility and Rabobank, to accelerate investment mobilization for national level REDD+ policy outcomes.

Excellent partnerships continue with KEMITRAAN, the leading Indonesia CSO, for governance reform and the IPB University for Fire Risk System improvement, as well as with the Bamboo Environmental Foundation on agroforestry.

Continued collaboration was built with the NASA fire project, by providing support through FAO’s SEPAL using high-res satellite data for Indonesian analysis and sharing info with ACIAR Peat-fire project. Despite COVID-19 restrictions, important relationships
have been established and maintained through online meetings with partners and government agencies, and technical data collection and analysis is underway and will continue in the post-pandemic future.

Finally, UN-REDD continues to partner with the World Bank through UNDP to coordinate support for IEF to meet its international fiduciary and operational standards.

LINKAGES TO THE SDGS
Linkages to the various SDGs are s follows: SDG 13 through IEF for REDD+ results-based finance and MRV improvements; SDG 1 through improved livelihood options; SDG 3 through less fires and smoke and improvements to food security; and SDG 17 through joint training and strengthening the International Tropical Peatland Center.