The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties is an important forum that brings global policy makers and key stakeholders in the efforts for addressing climate change and related environment issue, including in forestry. This year, the COP26 summit will be held in Glasgow, the United Kingdom on 31 October – 12 November 2021. The Government of Indonesia is participating in the summit with also held the side events at Indonesia Pavilion. The pavilion will provide thematic talk show sessions in Jakarta and Glasgow to bring the discussion on Climate Actions Together: Indonesia Forestry and Other Land Use Net Sink 2030”. 

Tropical forests play critical role in global climate cycle. However, most of these forests have been degraded and deforested driven by the development of the agricultural sector that involving the drainage of peatlands, forest conversion, and burning for land clearing (Austin et al. 2019, Dohong et al. 2017). This often associated with oil palm plantation establishment (Glauber and Gunawan, 2016; Purnomo et al., 2019), in which its expansion is driven by the demand on local and global trade (Henders et al. 2015; Rulli et al. 2019). While win-win solutions are available to reconcile the development and make the palm oil sector more sustainable (Purnomo et al. 2020), impact associated with its practices on peatland, especially when involving peat drainage, has to be remediated to prevent further release of emission.

In coordination with the main organizer, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) of Indonesia, CIFOR organize a session for the Indonesia Pavilion in the COP26 Summit with theme ‘Sustainable trade and peatland management for emissions reduction and community livelihoods’.  It is also co-hosted with the UKRI GCRF Trade, Development, and the Environment Hub (UKRI GCRF TRADE Hub) that is led by UNEP-WCMC. This session will explore different approaches to address tropical forest sustainability in Indonesia, such as community-based peatland restoration, emission reduction and carbon trading, as well as sustainable agriculture commodity trade, all contributing towards biodiversity conservation, community livelihood enhancement, and emissions reduction.

The session of ‘Sustainable trade and peatland management for emissions reduction and community livelihoods’ is expected to:

1. Promote comprehensive understanding of the current sustainability, emission reduction, and associated issues in Indonesia and approaches being taken to address them.
2. Facilitate cross-learning and knowledge sharing on the approaches for sustainability, emission reduction, and associated issues, e.g. sustainable trade, community-based, payment for environmental services.
3. Identify transformative innovations and approaches using the lens of sustainable trade, peatland management, and ecological restoration.

Presentation slides and additional materials can be accessed here.

Keynote speaker

Neil Burgess

Chief Scientist UNEP-WCMC and Principal Investigator of TRADE Hub

Moderator

Niken Sakuntaladewi

Ministry of Environment and Forestry Indonesia

Speakers

Herry Purnomo

CIFOR-ICRAF

Tiur Rumondang

Director of Assurance & Acting Head of Indonesia Operation, RSPO Global Secretariat

Elizabeth Robinson

Director of Grantham Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics

Michael Brady

Team Leader, Value Chains, Finance, & Investments, CIFOR-ICRAF

Simon Tay

Chairman of Singapore Institute of International Affairs

Further information of session programme here.