A two-year moratorium on the burning of forest lands in Indonesia, that was

supposed to start at the beginning of the year, is still on hold. The ban is part of a one
billion-dollar deal with Norway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that some
scientists say are the primary cause of global warming.
Indonesia is the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gas
emissions. Deforestation, mostly because of the burning of forests for palm oil
farming and mining that currently happens at a rate of 100 million hectors a year,
accounts for 50 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has pledged to reduce carbon dioxide
emissions 26 percent by 2020. A two-year moratorium on the development of new
forest land, that was supposed to begin back in January, is a key part of Indonesia's
environmental initiative and is part of a one billion dollar deal with Norway to protect
forests and reduce emissions. But the ban has been delayed and the task force
charged with developing the moratorium is struggling to come up with ways to make
environmental gains without causing economic pain.
Nur Masripatin, director of the Center for Standardization and Environment
with the Ministry of Forestry, says it is not economically feasible to expect Indonesia
to halt development in all rural areas. If your country, having 70 percent of your
country land is forest and your population keep growing, is it realistic that in the
future, 30 years in the future, you expected your forest still [is] 70 percent of the
forest area?" she asked. The task force is working on definitions she says that
will help delineate what areas will be affected by the ban. Green Peace campaigner
Yuyun Idradi is skeptical that the moratorium, when it is finally enacted, will have
any environmental impact. He says the ban will only cover new land permits, not
existing ones, and that most of the areas to be covered are already designated as
protected forests. He says the whole process is being delayed by corporate
lobbying.
"Negotiation is being closed and there is no information at all up to now and
we don't know how the new draft and when it is going to be signed," Idradi
stated. Robert Daniel with the Climate Change Unit at the British Embassy in
Jakarta says when the ban is enacted, it will not significantly reduce short-term
emissions of greenhouse gases. "What you are talking about is climate change
here, Daniel said. Very little forest will be protected as a result of the
moratorium. But that is not the point. As we were saying before, this is a process. It
is a step along the road to reducing deforestation.
He says the process involves getting businesses
to buy into the economic advantages of sustainable development practices. Daniel
says replanting trees in logging areas, increasing productivity in existing palm oil
plantations to meet growing demand and developing geothermal energy will bring
both economic benefit and reduce emissions, in the long term.
The Forestry Ministry's Masripatin also sees the
moratorium as part of a long-term process in managing its natural resources. "We
should not see [the immediate] impact of the moratorium. This is very important for
us to give us time to review how we manage our forestry resources in the past and
what will be needed in the future," Masripatin said. She says it is better to delay
enacting the moratorium so as to develop a careful, workable plan, rather than to
make a sweeping pronouncement that might damage the economy and be overturned
in court