Summary and key messages from the Workshop and Science Policy Dialogue, held the 24th August 2015
The global negotiations on REDD+ has recently concluded at the Bonn Climate Change conference in June 2015 and REDD+ now moves into countries’ implementation arenas. Countries will have to address the myriad of political, technical and socio-economic challenges related to halting forest exploitation and conversion, carbon emission measurements and benefit sharing that comes with REDD+. Indonesia has recently implemented a series of institutional changes in relation to forest and climate change governance under the new Administration – how will these changes facilitate or hinder an effective, efficient and equitable REDD+? And how can research and evidence inform processes for the needed transformational change? These and other questions were tackled during a workshop held on August 24th in Manggala. The workshop, a collaboration between Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Research Center for Climate Change, University of Indonesia (RCCCUI), included participants from the government of Indonesia, civil society organizations and the private sector.
The specific workshop objectives were to provide:
- Understanding of power, politics and institutional stickiness in REDD+ national policy arena: what are the implications for national policy design?
- Understanding REDD+ project impacts on the ground, what and how much changes can we see?
- Understanding national objectives for REDD+ benefit sharing: who can receive benefits and who will bear the costs? Sharing lessons from other sectors and countries.
- Understanding REDD+ and carbon emissions: is Indonesia ready to measure?
- Understanding coordination challenges in Indonesia
A series of presentations on the above topics were given in the morning, and working groups in the afternoon sessions provided insights for REDD+ benefit sharing design, core issues for performance in zero deforestation commitments, and challenges for coordination of policy responses to climate change. In summary, 4 Ds were considered crucial for enabling the transformations needed for implementing REDD+ in Indonesia:
- Clarity over Definitions, often more a political than a technical issue;
- The urgent need for transparency, credibility and accountability in Data for MRV systems, which can be also helped through independent verification bodies;
- The need to build in an adaptive perspective that can cope with Dynamism in political and global trends; and
- The need to have an institutional Design for coordination that provides national ownership while being accountable and transparent.
Recommendations have been generated at this workshop to inform deliberations in the High – level Policy Dialogue “Transformation and Climate Change in Indonesia under the New Government” led by RCCCUI. 10 key messages:
- To tackle successfully drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, champions in the State architecture are needed to be agents of transformational change and to realize a REDD+ agenda that fulfils the vision of “a healthy economic development with Indonesia’s rich forests standing”.
- REDD+ needs transformational change, however most of the changes in Indonesia is currently taking place in the political set up, rather than that needed in the governance, regulatory, or economic environments both within and beyond the forestry sector.
- REDD+ is starting to make a difference on the ground – while impacts of REDD+ project on
local peoples’ livelihoods are still unclear, there is indication that REDD+ has led to behavioral change in land use decisions - The MRV system in Indonesia is ready to report on emissions – high-level (Tier 3) technical capacity for measurement is available – now the political dimensions and institutional set up need to be addressed.
- Equity in REDD+ benefit sharing remains a major challenge – assessing who benefits from (and who bears the costs of) REDD+ is critical, and achieving equity may often involve trade- offs with other objectives of efficiency or effectiveness. In addition, the legitimacy of REDD+ will require inclusive participation in decision-making across all levels.
- To make sure that companies’ zero deforestation commitments away from business as usual do perform to their promises, to fully make use of companies’ motivations, and to overcome concerns over greenwashing, many factors have to be in place, among them land use planning and involvement of local actors, MRV, and governance including sanctioning regulations.
- Coordination of REDD+ in Indonesia is a current topic of debate and many options do exist – but for effective coordination, a strong mandate is required. REDD+ implementation in Indonesia needs movement and coordination across government, civil society, and private sector as a trinity. The establishment of communication bridges and brokers among these actors are important to overcome ‘language barriers and prejudices’ between the different actor groups.
- While there is now one ministry leading policy responses to climate change, the current methods, policies and measures developed in the past are still housed in different institutions and more harmonization across these institutions are needed.
- Lack of legal provisions in Indonesia may prevent certain financial instruments such as trust funds, from being used as a benefit sharing mechanism. The potential for using innovative financial mechanisms will require changes in policies to support an incentive structure that motivates national to local governments.
- Transformational change is needed now, but change also requires evidence – research will
have to provide timely provision of relevant evidence and information, and openness and willingness to learn will be required on all sides across all levels.