Nature Alert: Indonesia should drop forest carbon credit plan: Greenpeace

Wednesday 8 April 2009

Indonesia should drop forest carbon credit plan: Greenpeace

Wed Apr 1,

JAKARTA (AFP) – Environmental group Greenpeace called on Indonesia Wednesday to drop plans to tackle global climate change with credits for preserving forests, saying the measure could destroy carbon markets.

The Southeast Asian nation, a key backer of "avoided deforestation" measures that would award tradeable carbon credits for conservation, should abandon the plan in favour of funds to preserve forests, campaigner Bustar Maitar said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should use meetings on the sidelines of the G20 meeting this week in London to push for a modified version of its draft Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degredation (REDD) plan, Maitar said.

The REDD plan should replace the proposed credits with a global fund, paid for by rich nations, to finance forest conservation efforts, he said.

"The market-oriented draft, which focuses more on investment rather than reducing deforestation, only benefits big (industrial) companies with huge emissions," Maitar said.

"Under the scheme, companies can easily pay for (forest) carbon credits while still being able to pollute. This won't help to reduce deforestation in this country," he said.

Greenpeace criticised Indonesia for failing to meet targets to reduce emissions from deforestation and allowing the clearing of carbon-rich peat lands.

The group said the government should introduce an immediate moratorium on deforestation and back the creation of a global carbon market that focuses on reducing industrial emissions, not deforestation.

A Greenpeace report this week argued plans to introduce forest credits could send carbon credit prices in a future market plummeting 75 percent, removing incentives for polluting industries to clean themselves up and stifling clean technologies.

Emissions from deforestation make up most of Indonesia's greenhouse gas emissions.

The country is widely considered the world's third-highest carbon emitter, behind the United States and China.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090401/sc_afp/indonesiaenvironmentclimateg20greenpeace

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.