FOREST

Cenderawasih, bird of paradise, spotted at the ecotourism area in Rhepang Muaif, Papua Province

Hutan perempuan or women forest – prohibited for male – a place for women to socialize among women, talking about everything while collecting clams

Khombow, paintings on tree bark from Sentani, Papua.

The Indonesian forestry sector emits less GHG. The livelihoods of poor rural communities across eastern Indonesia are improved.

Indonesia has a wealth of biologically diverse tropical forests. However, illegal logging, forest fires and unsustainable practices negatively impact these and contribute significantly to Indonesia’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Indonesia’s forests are thus vitally important to mitigate the escalating effects of climate change.

For this reason, the Indonesian Government has vowed to reduce its carbon footprint by 29 per cent by 2030. In recent years, the devolution of power to Indonesia’s various regions and provinces has resulted in positive changes to forestry-related policies and institutional frameworks. However, insufficient capacities and resources are hampering this process. This is the challenge that the Forests and Climate Change Programme (FORCLIME) and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry collaboratively aim to resolve.

FORCLIME pursues a multilevel approach to develop relevant policies at national, provincial and district levels.

• At national level, FORCLIME works with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry designing and implementing legal, policy-related and institutional reforms. These reforms are applied out in the field and provincial levels, which also tackle issues in conservation, sustainable forest management, emissions reductions and aim to improve the quality of life of local communities. Relevant local institutions (i.e. forest administrations, universities, training centres) are being trained in planning procedures, conflict resolution and community-based forest management.
• Internationally, FORCLIME supports various international forestry and environmental initiatives and mechanisms (i.e. Access and Benefit Sharing mechanism (ABS), Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+)) to create local decision-makers capable of implementing international concepts.
• FORCLIME supports the full integration of biodiversity conservation, climate-change mitigation, sustainable economic and human-resource development following the concept of a forest-based bioeconomy.

• Indonesia