Climate Agreement and Challenges on Local Action to Reduce Emission Reduction in Papua - Indonesia

A historical agreement was achieved in Paris COP 21 December 2015 when more than 170 countries approved the proposal on the efforts to mitigate and adapt to the impact of climate change. Forests and lands been highlighted part of the cores attention in the mitigation actions to prevent the temperature raised not over 2^oC by 2100. And again reducing deforestation and degradation of forests was emerged as global component of action. Most of the tropical country like Indonesia, Congo and Brazil were stood in the position on requesting the clear finance mechanism on forests and people for climate mitigation. Incentive and benefits should go to the appropriate action on saving the primary forests. Beside government the voices were also came up from civil society and indigenous people alliance to considered the rights of Indigenous people on the climate convention. They claimed the rights over 60% of world land that contain approximately 37.7 billion tonnes of carbon—29 times more than the annual emissions of the world’s passenger vehicles.

Indonesia with its large tropical forests up to 140 million ha plays important position in combating climate change impact through low emission land and forests development. The INDC raised in Paris by President JOKOWI emphasized new country commitment to reduce 29% of domestic emission by 2030. Highlighting forests moratorium and improve forests management on community based forests management as part of the national efforts on forests and land mitigation action. But it was remained contradictory with the facts that the government are trying to pushing up economic growth by creating economic policy package in 2015 that allow massive expansion of natural resources extraction in the country. The national targets on peatland protection has failed in 2015 by huge forests fires and oilpalm expansion in peatland areas. While the social forestry initiative facing the problems on limited forests availability for community and local government intention on developments. Allocation of forests to big concession are mostly be considered advantages to the government revenue.

For the provinces like Papua and West Papua, Paris climate agreement and national commitment on emission reduction would be a best chance to gets financial and non-financial incentive to the development by saving the forests. 42 million ha of the forests in the Island in which 70% are primary (**90 forests cover) could contribute about 38% of national forests and land use low emission development targets. Provincial action plans strategy on low emission development have now opened for implementation depending on how fast are the government then translating their program reflect to the global and national commitment on climate change mitigation and adaption. Particularly how the government could then control massive forests cover changes for road construction, public facilities and other land uses purposes because they are the main drivers of deforestation in the region emitted almost 53 million Ton of CO₂ per year. It is realized that there are a lot of challenge appear to be answered by Government and all actors in the region to meets good and benefiting forests governance to the people, states and global interests. 

Understanding the forests development are unique in each region, the Ministry of Forestry introduced and prioritizing forests management units (FMU/KPH) as the forests decentralization management scheme that be designed to bridge such national-local and global gaps. This sites specific scheme are then be formulated to solve the conflicts such as community/indigenous people rights claim over the forests in the region. Papua and West Papua Provinces are then responded this by designing 77 FMU that covers almost 23 million or about 60% of the forests in the island – 12 of which are now have been operationalizing. Recently the FMU policy was expanded to cover all types of forests include conservation which means about 80% of the Papua forests are potentially to be managed under FMU scheme. It is just one of several option on climate change mitigation and adaptation locus on the region. Another sustainability land uses and forests development practices outside of FMU are also crucial to gets special attention such as energy and agriculture sectors.

In the complexity problem of activities on the Ground, the forestry actors are now become panics and not comfortably working in the transition phase of Law No 23 of 2014 implementation. The law has clearly mentioning forestry in the ‘non mandatory responsibilities’ in which the district level forests administrative functions are no longer needed because it is not efficient. All of the asset and program are now moving to the province. Direct consequences will be a problem of services at the districts and willingness of forestry actor to responsible to the program in the region. Which means all low emission development action that working at the provinces are now under provincial responsibility that would high costs because it is centralistic governing. Authority of forests management are in provinces could create interest conflict between Governoord and Head of the Districts.


Political situation in Papua with number of Head of District election happening in 2015 until 2017 are another issues that would significantly influence the ways of land uses and forests development pathway. One risk that each environmental and people based projects intervention would face is where no political and program support from local government authority. REDD and any other locally forests and land development program are enormously influenced by local politics and government program. In cases like Tambrauw West Papua Province all the process are were well and be backed up by the government because the current Bupati’s has good will and concrete political commitment on conservation and rights recognition.