Signing of Record of Discussions for the Republic of Indonesia:

Jakarta, 22nd September 2023, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed the Record of Discussions (R/D) with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK), Republic of Indonesia for a Technical Cooperation Project “Climate Change Mitigation Project in LULUCF Sector”.

The Republic of Indonesia is the third largest country of tropical forest areas in the world and the country has 36 % of tropical peatland areas, which store vast amounts of carbon. It is estimated that the amount of CO2 emissions from peatlands is about 38% of the total amount of CO2 emission in Indonesia and the Government of Indonesia has been making efforts to reduce deforestation and land degradation through the promotion of sustainable peatland management.

LULUCF or forestry and other land uses (FOLU) (based in the term adopted in 2016 IPCC Guidelines) has been reported to be a dominant source of GHG emissions in Indonesia and contributed to more than 60 % of GHG emissions (2rd BUR, 2018)¹ . This might be due to a vast area of forest (64 % of the entire land of Indonesia) and coupled with deforestation, forest degradation, and large areas of drained peatlands. In addition, the average annual level of emission from peatland between 2000-2018 was estimated as 439.8 Mton CO2e per year (GHG Inventory Report, 2020 ).

The newly signed project will leverage the results of the various schemes of cooperation that JICA has implemented so far. By utilizing past JICA project outputs, it will strengthen the capacity of sustainable land management to contribute to climate change mitigation in order to achieve "Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)" (LULUCF sector). The project will accelerate efforts that the GOI has making toward to the achievement of its NDC targets through the improvement of methodologies for monitoring GHG emissions from peatlands, the applications of agricultural practices which secures water level in peatlands, and development of state-level REDD+ components. In addition to that, the project is aiming to facilitate the development of policy related to GHG inventories and MRV in the LULUCF sector.

At the signing ceremony, Okamura Kenji, Senior Representative of JICA Indonesia Office stated, " JICA has been strengthening the cooperation with the GOI for climate change countermeasures in the forest sector, including a cooperative project for forest fire prevention that started in June this year. Indonesia and Japan will continue to work together to address climate change in Indonesia in a new way. "

Note:
¹ Indonesia Second Biennial Update Report (BUR), 2018, https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/Indonesia-2nd_BUR.pdf .

By the implementation of the new project, it is expected to strengthen the capacity for sustainable land management contributing to climate change mitigation to achieve Indonesia’s NDC in LULUCF sector. Detail of the Project is as follows;

Note:
¹ Indonesia Second Biennial Update Report (BUR), 2018, https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/Indonesia-2nd_BUR.pdf .