Insider Observations: Two countries, two situations

By:  Scott Belan, The Nature Conservancy

The afternoon sessions kicked off with a case study of REDD in Indonesia. Jack Hurd (TNC) led a roundtable presentation by Dr. Tonny Soehartono (Indonesia Ministry of Forestry), Dr. Herlina Hartano (TNC) and Marco Albani (McKinsey).  The panel covered a lot of ground, focusing on Policy, Finance and Low Carbon Development Strategies.

From national policy, to determining how to pay for REDD work ,to moving into the development stage of the Conservancy’s Berau Forest Carbon program in 2011, the questions of how to work across sectors and how to bridge expectation gaps between district, province and national governments were  paramount.

Another key point was that emissions reduction strategies must be connected  with economic development opportunities. Marco was blunt on this point: “Conservation is dead in the water without economic development.” If The Nature Conservancy wants to reduce deforestation in a nation that is 71% forest area, we have to accept alternatives to logging and land clearing, such as coal-bed methane extraction or development of downstream pulp mills, that might not seem to fit in a standard conservation paradigm.

Some of the same themes carried over into the last presentation of a packed day: REDD in Brazil. Fernanda Carvalho (TNC) got things going with the Amazon Fund, voluntary emissions reduction targets and a national cap-and-trade program (or, as she put it, “To offset or not to offset – that is the question.”)

Natalie Unterstell (Amazonas State Center for Climate Change) and Laurent Micol (Instituto Centro de Vida) showed just how complex forest carbon work is in Brazil. In Amazonas, which is 98% forested and home to 66 indigenous groups, the Bolsa Floresta program gives thousands of local families positive incentives to conserve forests; in Mato Grosso , which has lost 37% of its forested land, rates of destruction are tied to increased agricultural production. The question: how can we untie them, so that forest protection and agricultural yields can rise simultaneously?

The afternoon ended with Ian Thompson (TNC) talking about pilot projects and the need for engagement on all levels, from government to indigenous people to civil society.

What did we learn from these country case studies? Scaling is a challenge, whether it’s up from municipal projects or down from federal plans. There will be no stanching deforestation without alternative economic development. And REDD can’t be one-size-fits-all: every project is different, and success will require a multitude of approaches.