JAKARTA, (Reuters) – An ambitious Indonesian plan to plant millions of hectares of forest should allow the country to exceed its target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than a quarter by 2020, the forestry minister said yesterday.
Indonesia was named in a 2007 World Bank study as the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the United States, largely due to its rapid rate of deforestation.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has pledged to cut emissions by 26 percent from business as usual levels by 2020 or by 41 percent by 2020 if given sufficient international support. Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said the plan to add an extra 21.15 million hectares (52.26 million acres) of forest by 2020 would turn the country from a net carbon emitter to into a net carbon sink.
“If the scenario described proceeds, if the planting proceeds, we can reach more than 26 percent (in emissions cuts),” he told reporters after the presentation. “If we can also eradicate illegal logging, then the 26 percent will be achieved entirely in the forestry and peat sector.”
The target appears ambitious since Indonesia currently has one of the fastest rates of deforestation in the world. Hasan said there were 130 million hectares of forest left in the country but only 48 million hectares were in good condition.
Under the new plan, he said 500,000 hectares of new forest would be planted annually at a cost of 2.5 trillion rupiah ($269 million) per year.
