Heaptalk, Jakarta — Indonesia’s President, Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo, met the Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment, Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, in the Merdeka Palace (06/02) to discuss several matters, including bilateral collaboration to reduce carbon emissions and further discourse on the European Union’s anti-deforestation policy.
Accompanied by the Minister of Environment and Forestry (LHK), Siti Nurbaya, she conveyed, “We have talked about multiple issues. President Jokowi also appealed to Norway for adequate comprehension and perception, expecting to resolve the palm oil discrimination issue. We have also conveyed to the party that we have tackled the related problems,”
Regarding various attempts to minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the forestry sector, Minister Siti said that Indonesia will focus on forestry and other land use (FOLU) Net Sink 2030. FOLU Net Sink is a condition to be achieved through mitigation actions to reduce GHG from the forestry and land sectors with a high absorption level compared to the emissions level in 2030.
“The primary target is FOLU Net Sink 2030. We have also received concrete support from Norwegia worth US$156 million to reduce 30.2 million tons of carbon as Indonesia’s climate action achievements,” Minister Siti Nurbaya affirmed.
Further, regarding the European Union on Deforestation-free Regulation (EUDR) to cease palm oil discrimination, Minister Siti affirmed the need for adjustments to the method of measuring land inventory in Indonesia following the EUDR policy to prevent the possibility of error if utilizing the global forest watch (GFW) scheme.
“Indonesia also criticized the Land inventory method, which we are still working on,” Siti affirmed.
As is known, the archipelago succeeded in exceeding the target for reducing carbon emissions, reducing around 945 tons (2020), 889 tons (2021), and then about 875 tons (2022).
“We are still calculating for last year’s output. However, I forecasted the decline to be less because of El Nino in 2023. This matter is quite complex, but we can still manage it, so it is still above 810 million tons or more than 40%, and the result remains over the target.” Minister Siti voiced.
Responding to Indonesia’s strategic moves to tackle the matter, the Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment appreciates the country’s accomplishments in reducing deforestation by up to 90% and ambitiously rehabilitating land.
“Indonesia has achieved significant achievements and extraordinary results regarding deforestation in recent years. Indonesia’s achievement in reducing deforestation and rehabilitating its ambitious efforts towards the 2030 FOLU Net Sink target is a milestone to be shared worldwide,” Norwegian Minister Eriksen said.
