JAKARTA, (Reuters) – Norway plans to give Indonesia  $1 billion to help protect tropical forests as part of a drive  to combat climate change, a senior Indonesian official said yesterday. 
 
“It is the biggest (donation) from one country” to help  Indonesia tackle global warming, said Agus Purnomo, head of the  secretariat of Indonesia’s National Climate Change Council.

“The commitment is $1 billion,” he said, adding that the  money would raise Indonesia’s climate funds from all sources to  about $3 billion. 

A letter of intent would be signed in Oslo on May 27 when  Norway hosts an international meeting on forestry, Purnomo said.  Norwegian officials were not immediately available for comment.  

Trees soak up carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, as  they grow and the United Nations estimates that deforestation  accounts for about a fifth of all greenhouse gases from human  activities. Large tracts of Indonesian forests have been cleared  for palm oil plantations. 
 
The project “can start this year. The challenge is to find a  financing mechanism so both parties are happy,” Purnomo said. It  was unclear how long a period the cash would cover.  

Norway, which has big savings from oil revenues, has led  donors in safeguarding forests since 2007. Among projects, Oslo  is giving up to $1 billion to Brazil from 2009-15 and smaller  amounts to Guyana, Tanzania and Congo Basin nations.