Developing countries are scrambling to position themselves to receive as much as possible, while developed nations are doing their best to ensure they get what they want from their investments. The result is a complex debate that is likely to grow more heated as countries move from stating their positions to settling on an agreement that everyone can live with beyond December. “We cannot control all land use only from a climate point of view. Society needs other things” said Markku Kanninen, and expert from the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

A new report from published by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) highlights the benefits — and controversies — of large-scale expansion of oil palm agriculture in Southeast Asia. The review, titled “The impacts and opportunities of oil palm in Southeast Asia: What do we know and what do we need to know?”, notes that while oil palm is a highly productive and profitable crop, there are serious concerns about its environmental and social impact when established on disputed land or in place of tropical forests and peat lands. The report notes that the area allocated for oil palm has expanded dramatically since the early 1980s, more than tripling to 14 million hectares in 2007. With around 6.2 million hectares officially designated for oil palm, Indonesia is the world’s leading grower and producer, followed by Malaysia. This growth has created new fortunes in both countries, but has come at a high ecological cost: more than half of oil palm expansion in Malaysia and Indonesia between 1990 and 2005 occurred at the expense of natural forests.

Indonesia could harvest about US$15 billion (Rp 150 trillion) of financial incentives per year from carbon trading through avoiding forest emissions, a climate expert said. Climate researcher from the Center for International Forestry Research (Cifor) Daniel Murdiyarso said that the implementation of reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) scheme would give double benefits to Indonesia of financial incentives and curbing long standing illegal logging. about US$15 billion (Rp 150 trillion) of financial incentives per year from carbon trading through avoiding forest emissions, a climate expert said. Climate researcher from the Center for International Forestry Research (Cifor) Daniel Murdiyarso said that the implementation of reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) scheme would give double benefits to Indonesia of financial incentives and curbing long standing illegal logging.

As the dry season arrives, fires are again starting to spread, threatening to cause untold damage to people’s health and to the environment. There has been a sharp increase in the number of patience visiting hospital complaining of haze related ailments such as respiratory problems and sore eyes. The prestigious Center for International Forestry (CIFOR) says that one of the causes is the large areas of forest land that have been allocated for conversion to other uses, without ensuring adequate support mechanisms for environmentally sound land-clearing practices are properly in place. CIFOR points to the decentralization of government authority leading to more stakeholders involved in forestry decision-making process than was the case in the 1990s, rendering obsolete top-down implementation of national-level forest polices.

An ambitious plan to fight climate change by making polluters pay to preserve forest has come under the cloud, with some environmentalist calling it unworkable and dangerous. The basic idea behind REDD is to work out how much carbon can be saved by not cutting down trees, and selling that carbon on the global market for big polluters to offset their own emission. Other NGOs, like Friends of the Earth International also say people living in forest especially indigenous people, would be hard pressed to take advantage of the complex world of carbon markets and could be left worse off. However, dire predictions of systematic failure are “extremely pessimistic”, said Markku Kanninen, and expert from the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). The story also appeared in Gulf News.

Keberadaan APKJ mungkin dalam waktu dekat belum dapat membantu perajin keluar untuk membuka pasar atau yang lainnya. Namun, APKJ dapat membantu perajin memperbaiki diri, menuju perajin yang profesional.

Untuk itu, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) akan mendampingi perajin kecil hingga lima tahun mendatang. Pemimpin proyek CIFOR Herry Purnomo mengatakan, APKJ diharapkan dapat membantu perajin meningkatkan kualitas, membuka jaringan pemasaran, sertifikasi produk, hingga ekspor secara mandiri.

Indonesia continues to warn that unless the emerging global REDD avoided deforestation initiative is made simple it will not work in developing countries. But despite the concerns, the governments appears to be leading the development of REDD capacity among developing countries. Stibniati Atmadja, the Climate Change Research Fellow at CIFOR said that, the government want to make sure REDD is do-able for developing countries, provide livelihoods benefits and avoids the difficulties of the CDM.

Sejumlah perajin kecil dari tujuh kecamatan di Jepara, pusat industri mebel berbasis kayu di Jawa Tengah, mendeklarasikan pembentukan Asosiasi Perajin Kecil Jepara (APKJ). Pemda Jepara juga memberikan dukungan terhadap APKJ dengan menyumbangkan ruangan kantor di gedung Jepara Trade and Tourism Center. “APKJ memegang peranan penting dalam menampung aspirasi ribuan perajin kecil di Jepara. Pada masa yang akan datang, mereka dapat memiliki kekuatan untuk membentuk kualitas dan harga yang terstandardisasi bagi bahan baku dan produk mebel,” kata Hendro Martojo, Bupati Jepara yang menandatangani surat perjanjian bersama Center for International Forestry Research (Cifor) pada 2008. Cifor adalah lembaga penelitian kehutanan internasional yang berbasis di Bogor, memulai program 5 tahun di Jepara yang bertema Penelitian kaji-tindak mebel mahoni dan jati untuk meningkatkan efisiensi rantai nilai dan meningkatkan penghidupan, pada pertengahan tahun lalu.