Indonesia News Brief and Action Alert

Indonesia: A Climate Look Past and Forward

February 18, 2023February 17, 2023

Looking Back 2022:  Floods, Droughts, and Other Extreme Weather Events             

Looking Forward 2023: To Make Substantial Progress in Eliminating Deforestation

Background information and weather events in 2022

Indonesia has been experiencing changes in rainfall patterns over the last several years. From July to September 2022, rainfall higher than the thirty-year-long term average has been recorded. Early rainfall and the persistence of the La Niña phenomenon has caused the southern parts of Indonesia to experience rainfall above normal condition. On the other hand, the northern part of Indonesia is receiving lower than the average rainfall resulting in drier seasons and droughts. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, floods and droughts have caused paddy crop disturbances affecting a total of 1500 hectares of land in August 2022. The National Food Agency has been watching over three Indonesian provinces for the possible decline in food production and nutrition.

The National Disaster Management Agency has reported a 35% increase in disasters caused by hydrometeorological hazards including floods, droughts, landslides, and extreme weather events such as storms and cyclones in 2022 compared to 2021. According to the Global Climate Risk Index (GCRI), Indonesia has been ranked 14th country out of 181 countries. This indicates the Indonesian community must develop adaptive capacity based on economic, social, and environmental resilience to deal with climate risks.

Setting new commitments in 2022

In 2022, Indonesia submitted an Enhanced (NDC) which has reinforced its commitment to combat global climate change impacts that affect the environmental condition. It advocates strong linkages of key programs with international conventions/agreements, including the Rio Convention, the Wetlands Convention, the Sendai Framework, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Additionally, Presidential Regulation No. 98/2021 mandates the national and sub-national governments, the private sector, NGOs, and other relevant stakeholders conduct mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Drawing insights from the recent 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-27) event, Indonesia has increased its target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through its efforts from 29% to 31.89% and international support from 41% to 43.2% by 2030. The proposed sectoral policies include the policy to achieve forestry and land use net absorption, electric vehicle usage acceleration, and a 100 percent biofuel utilization target. The Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar stated that ‘Indonesia will urge developed countries who have not updated their NDC 2030 target, to immediately raise their climate mitigation, adaptation, and implementation ambition.

Recently, Indonesia received its first payment of US$20.9 million (IDR320 billion) of the total sum of US$110 million (IDR1.6 trillion) under the Emissions Reduction Payment Agreement between the Government of Indonesia and the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) in East Kalimantan province. Satu Kahkonen, World Bank Country Director for Indonesia and Timor Leste looks at this program as a critical tool to incentivize climate change mitigation.

 

 

A foreseeable development in 2023 for Indonesia

Another ambitious goal set up for 2023, is to make its future national capital Nusantara the world’s first sustainable forest national capital and the first carbon-neutral city in Indonesia by 2045. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Indonesia have launched a scoping study to identify, track, neutralize and reduce carbon emissions supporting Nusantara’s development. The technical assistance will be managed by ADB. The project is financed by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is expected to be finalized by June 2023.

Additionally, in 2023, Indonesia plans to be on track to eliminate deforestation. The country has signed a new climate deal in which Norway will support the country with US$56 million to reduce its domestic deforestation as part of Indonesia’s commitment to its (Forestry and Other Land Use (FOLU) Net Sink 2030 Operational Plan.

Indonesia is setting an example amongst the ASEAN countries of how an emerging economy can commit to ambitious climate targets and achieve them through consistent action.

Learn More References

This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard Indonesia Country Manager Netra Naik

Image: Nusantara’s plan to achieve a carbon-neutral, resource-efficient, and liveable city will contribute to Indonesia’s target of achieving carbon-neutral net zero emissions by 2060. Photo Courtesy: Indonesia’s Ministry of Public Works and Housing.

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