Stopping and reversing the loss and degradation of forests and
peat land is a crucial element of any climate solution developed
in Indonesia. Last year, in his pledge to reduce greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions and in his Cabinet’s “100 days” program,
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stated that Indonesia would
tackle emissions from deforestation and changes in land use,
including from forest and land fires. This year, the minister of
forestry vowed to add an extra 21.15 million hectares of forest
by 2020 (500,000 hectares per year) as the top priority to
contribute to the President’s pledge. While this is a good move,
it may not provide sufficient results to reduce the country’s
GHG emissions. Various reports have concluded that the
deforestation rate in this country still outweighs that of
reforestation — the annual rate of deforestation stands at 0.8
to 1.09 million hectares compared to 0.3 to 0.6 million hectares
for reforestation (re-planting). Most GHG emissions in this
sector usually come from forests b