Carbon emissions: loophole in forest plan for Indonesia

Abstract

[Extract] Last year, Indonesia and Norway signed the Oslo Pact, which will pay Indonesia up to US$1 billion to reduce carbon emissions by advancing forest-conservation initiatives. As part of the deal, Indonesia must halt the licensing of new agricultural plantations and logging concessions on peatlands and natural forest for two years. Clearing and logging must instead be directed to non-forest 'degraded' lands and to existing concessions. But the pact has a big loophole.

Indonesia is the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, caused mostly by rampant felling or burning of its rainforests and carbon-rich peat-swamp forests. The loss of these ecosystems also threatens major hot spots of global biodiversity. The hope is that the Oslo Pact and follow-on carbon payments can stem this tide.