The dynamics of climate change governance in Indonesia

In recent years, as described in other chapters in this book, the intention to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has been growing across a diverse range of non-Annex I countries. Often, these countries signal their intentions by announcing their commitments to Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) in a list of policies and programmes that is submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat. Indonesia is no exception in this regard. At the 2009 Group of 20 (G20) meeting in Pittsburgh, the president of Indonesia announced for the first time the country’s national commitment to mitigating CO2 emissions, particularly through the reduction of deforestation rates and forest degradation. It stated that Indonesia ‘will reduce its annual emissions by 26 per cent by 2020 from BAU (Business As Usual)’, and that, with international support, the country ‘could reduce emissions by as much as 41 per cent’ (Yudhoyono 2009). Indonesia was among the first non-Annex I countries to make such a commitment (Jotzo 2012), and it was subsequently submitted to the UNFCCC Secretariat as the country’s NAMA on 30 January 2010. It was, nevertheless, a surprising move, and, domestically, was not well understood. Until that point, there had been important national discussions of Indonesia’s contribution to global CO2 emissions, but discussions of the kinds of programmes that should be adopted, if any, had been limited. The international community embraced this commitment by promising funding and technical assistance to facilitate and encourage Indonesia’s efforts. In May 2010, the government of Norway pledged to support Indonesia in its preparations for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus (REDD+) by promising US$1 billion conditional on Indonesia fulfilling certain tasks set out in a letter of intent (LOI) between the two countries. Within Indonesia, the commitment announced by the president was then translated into a national strategy for reducing CO2 emissions as well as related.