Frances Seymour, the director-general of the Indonesia-based Center for International Forestry Research, told Radio Australia’s Connect Asia program that Australia’s commitment will help Indonesia address the problem of deforestation. "I think there are two important potential uses – one is to start the design of new mechanisms that would provide the government or individual land owners with payments to avoid deforestation," he said. "But perhaps more importantly the money would be used to invest in developing this so-called readiness for those programs, so strengthening policy, strengthening government capacities to address the important problem of deforestation."
Similar version appeared in ABC Radio Australia program Rural Western Australia

But the Centre for International Forestry Research director-general Frances Seymour says the underlying causes of deforestation are more complex. "The bad news is that the underlying causes of deforestation trace back to pretty fundamental market failures and governance failures, but I can say that countries face similar issues around the world, in terms of how to align incentives so that valuable forest land is not cleared for agriculture and to ensure that pulp milling capacity does not exceed the ability of plantation to provide sustainable sources of wood to industry," she said.

Earlier this year the PM announced a $200 million package to help our near neighbours with deforestation. John Howard said fighting deforestation in Indonesia would be more effective than signing the Kyoto Protocol. Whether or not that’s the case, it certainly is true that upwards of twenty per cent of global greenhouse emissions are caused by deforestation in developing countries, so the money can’t hurt. Frances Seymour is the director-general of the Centre for International Forestry Research, based in Indonesia.

The Australian government this year launched a 200-million dollar initiative to help developing nations reduce global greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation. Presenter – Sen Lam Speaker – Frances Seymour, the director-general of the Indonesia-based Centre for International Forestry Research

Perundingan dalam COP pada akhirnya memang tidak hanya menyangkut persoalan teknis, tetapi juga ekonomi. Peneliti Senior Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Dr Daniel Murdiyarso, mengingatkan, dari sekitar 500 proyek CDM yang terdaftar untuk menurunkan emisi, hanya tujuh proyek aforestasi (A) dan reforestasi (R) CDM yang berjalan. Indonesia, katanya, mendaftarkan dua proyek yang belum jelas nasibnya. Daniel mendukung ide pengurangan emisi dari deforestasi (D) di negara berkembang yang dilontarkan pada tahun 2005 di Montreal. Ia berharap COP 13 di Bali menghasilkan keputusan tentang itu.

Could peat swamp be worth more intact for their carbon value than palm oil plantations for their oil? Quick analysis suggests yes, though binding limits on emissions will be needed to trigger the largest ever flow of money from the industrialized world to developing countries. At stake: the bulk of the world’s biodiversity.

Pembangunan energi alternatif dari lahan gambut untuk mengurangi ketergantungan pada Bahan Bakar Minyak (BBM), namun pendapat yang mempertanyakan ini disampaikan Daniel Murdiyarso, peneliti senior CIFOR, lembaga peneliti hutan internasional bermarkas di Bogor, Rabu pagi ini. “Menurut saya, gambut bukan green energy, dan yang lebih parah lagi, akibat dari ekstraksi itu luar biasa,” jelas Daniel Murdiyarso. “Belum lagi emisi dari drainase,” lanjutnya, “jadi kalau bahan organik didrainase dia juga mengemisikan karbon.”

Krystof Obidzinski, of the Indonesia-based Center for International Forestry Research, contends that more than 70% of logs going to Indonesia’s timber-processing industry have been illegally felled. Pressure on Papua’s forests, in particular, is likely to increase in coming years, with projects on the drawing board to plant enormous plantations for palm oil, which is used to produce biodiesel. Seeking to exploit the rising global demand for alternative energy, China National Offshore Oil Corp. said in January it was ready to invest $5.5 billion to develop plantations and biodiesel factories in Kalimantan and Papua.