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Press Release

July 13, 2022

Signing of Record of Discussions for the Republic of Indonesia: The Project for Community Movement Program on Forest and Land Fire Prevention (Riau, West Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan)

Jakarta, 13th July 2022, 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 "The Project for Community Movement Program on Forest and Land Fire Prevention".

Photo(left-right) Yasui Takehiro, Chief Representative of JICA Indonesia; Agus Rusly, S.Pi, M.Si, Executive Secretary of Directorate General of Climate Change.

The Republic of Indonesia is the third largest country of tropical forest area in the world that contributes in maintaining the biological diversity as the habitat of wildlife and carbon sequestration in the world. In recent years, the pressures of deforestation and forest degradation including forest and peatland fires are becoming highly frequent so countermeasures to deal with the pressure are becoming urgent issues.

JICA had implemented the 3 phases of technical cooperation for forest fire control in 1996 to 2009, and "Program of Community Development of Fires Control in Peatland Area (hereafter referred to as "FCP")" implemented in 2009-2014. Supported by village facilitation team (Tim Pendamping Desa/ TPD) composed of fire brigade (Manggala Agni/ MA) and community groups, these technical cooperation had successfully decreased numbers of burning by community residents in Riau and West Kalimantan Provinces, which resulting in the reduction of hotspots. In addition, the curriculum and syllabus developed for the MA training were recognized as the official training curriculum and syllabus in Indonesia.


Super El Niño, which occurred in 2015, caused large-scale fires in extremely dry forests and peatlands, and generated haze and caused cross-border influence on neighboring countries, including the outbreak of respiratory diseases and flight cancellations due to air traffic disruption. Therefore, forest and peatland fire prevention and its countermeasures are significant issues in Indonesia. According to a survey conducted by Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies, CO2 emissions from large-scale fires in the Southeast Asian islands during September-October 2015 were estimated as 273 Tg (carbon equivalent), which is equivalent to the annual emissions in Japan.

The newly signed project, which will be implemented at Riau, West Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan provinces, which have large areas of peatlands and government's high priority sites, utilizes the results of JICA's previous cooperation in order to address GHG emission control in Indonesia. The project will adopt

community-based forest and land fire prevention models at the district level with the aim of sharing these experiences at the national level. While community-based approach was also used in the past project, the new project will also include components such as peatland water management and alternative livelihood planning that enable residents to improve sustainable livelihoods without using the fire. JICA provides support at both the policy and community levels.

At the signing ceremony, Yasui Takehiro, Chief Representative of JICA Indonesia Office remarked, "JICA has been cooperating forest fire prevention in Indonesia for more than 25 years. In recent years, JICA has also provided support for peatland monitoring and management using scientific and technological expertise, and as international awareness of the dangers of climate change increases, we would like to make maximum use of these assets from past projects to strengthen cooperation between Japan and Indonesia for climate change countermeasures in the forest sector. "

Detail of the Project is as follows;

Country The Republic of Indonesia
Project Title The Project for Community Movement Program on Forest and Land Fire Prevention
Duration 4 years
Implementing Agency Directorate of Forest and Land Fire Management, Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK)
Location 1 (one) district in Riau, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan respectively.
Project Outputs
  1. Institutional arrangement for forest and land fire control is operationalized in the three (3) targeted areas.
  2. Community-based forest and land fire prevention model is adopted at the district level.
  3. Community-based sustainable peatland management model is developed at fire prone villages.
  4. Policies and experiences on Community-based forest and land fire prevention are shared at the national level.

[Person in Charge]
Name : Inoue Erika
Email : inoue.erika3@jica.go.jp
Telp : 021 5795 2112

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