The Obama administration squandered a chance this week to show U.S. leadership on climate and forest conservation issues, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during a visit to Jakarta, failed to bring up a new Indonesian government decree allowing conversion of carbon-rich peat forests to oil-palm plantations.
Scientists say the decree, which apparently met the approval of Indonesia’s Ministry of the Environment on Wednesday, will result in massive greenhouse gas emissions from the degradation and destruction of peatland ecosystems, which in some years can be the source of up to 8 percent of global CO2 emissions. Draining peat soils to a depth of 60-80 cm as allowed under the decree will release 60-75 tons of carbon per hectare per year, according to Alex Kaat of Wetlands International. Some 2 million hectares of peatlands across Indonesia qualify for conversion, indicating that if fully converted, the decree could result in annual emissions 120-150 million tons of CO2 — the equivalent of adding another Netherlands or Pakistan. Planting the land with oil palm will make only a small dent in the carbon deficit since plantations sequester far less carbon than natural forests. Dr. Susan Page of the University of Leicester estimates that one ton of palm oil produced on peatland results in 15 to 70 tons of emissions over the 25-year lifecycle of a plantation.
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At this point it is still unclear whether the decree is meant to actually boost palm oil production and appease political interests ahead of elections or simply a ruse to increase Indonesia’s potential earnings under a carbon finance mechanism that rewards countries for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (to “reduce emissions” a forest needs to be imminently threatened — i.e. concessioned). Regardless, the Obama administration, with the President’s popularity in Indonesia, missed a golden opportunity to show the U.S. is serious about its commitment to addressing climate change.
The United States and Indonesia are respectively the second and third largest greenhouse gas emitters. More than 80 percent of Indonesia’s emissions result from deforestation and destruction of peatlands rather than the burning of fossil fuels.
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