Translated by Fahmi Alamri

BP REDD+ together with the Ministry of Forestry held consultations regarding the ER-PIN (Emission Reduction Program Idea Note) document which is planned to be submitted on September 5, 2014. BP REDD+ is planning to hold a second consultation on September 3. The continued consultation is considered necessary by BP REDD+ as there are still quite a lot of inputs received by BP REDD+ regarding the refinement of the ER-PIN document.

There are several important points discussed in the meeting. Among them are tenurial issues, benefit sharing issues, Indonesia’s emission reduction commitments, and the management unit of the future ER-PIN scheme.

Tenurial Issues. Regarding tenurial issues, the ER-PIN drafting team sees that “pouring in” the Constitutional Court’s Decision 35 into the ER-PIN document is still quite far ahead, and not yet included in this ER-PIN document. This document itself is still an Idea Note, later after this Idea Note is presented in October of this year, Indonesia will be given two years until 2016 to prepare a proposal. and according to them, later the Constitutional Court’s Decision 35 and Ministry of Forestry’s Decree 12 related to tenurial issues will be further discussed and focused during the project implementation phase.

Benefit Sharing Issues. Until now, there is no specific scheme for benefit sharing from REDD+. Until that scheme is formed, currently PNPM is used as a medium for communities to access those funds. In addition, Credit Unions in Kalimantan will also be used as that medium. However, a specific scheme will be created so that communities can access those funds. This is considered necessary because not all communities can access PNPM.

Indonesia’s Commitment. There was a question raised regarding the relationship between Indonesia’s emission reduction commitments and carbon trading schemes in the ER-PIN. When Indonesia has “sold” its carbon stock, there is a fear that it may not be recognized by Indonesia as part of its emission reduction commitment of 26/41. It is perceived that by selling the carbon, Indonesia has lost its right to that carbon property. However, this concern is countered by the Drafting Team, stating that this fear is not included in the ER-PIN scheme, and the ER-PIN only provides incentives for Indonesia’s efforts in reducing emissions. When Indonesia sells that carbon, the emissions sold can still be claimed by Indonesia as its emission reduction. In this case, the Carbon Fund scheme is seen as a “bait” for countries to make efforts to reduce their emissions.

KPH as a management unit. The development of KPH units in regions is crucial because the units that will be involved in this scheme are the KPH units in each region. Therefore, regions that do not have KPHs yet need to be encouraged to build them soon, and the readiness of KPHs in each region still needs to be improved. The issue of conflict resolution itself has not been touched upon much, apparently the current focus is more on the development and readiness of each KPH.

These four issues received the most attention during the consultation, especially regarding tenurial issues, benefit sharing, and the management units, as these three issues will directly involve the community. Therefore, thorough attention and monitoring are needed for these three issues. Monitoring is crucial to ensure that the proposed scheme in this ER-PIN does not eliminate access and aspects of community life that already exist. The ER-PIN document is planned to be submitted on September 5, 2014, and will be presented by Indonesia in October 2014, followed by the proposal for the project. Throughout this process, monitoring is necessary to prevent the rights of the community from being eliminated and restricted in their access. ***