TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Carbon emission is one of the burning issues in the climate agenda and its reduction has been the soul of climate mitigation since it had been transpired as a political issue in the 1990s. Yayasan Solidaridad Network Indonesia (YSNI), as a part of Solidaridad Network has been working towards creating climate awareness and improving supply chains that leads to sustainability and bring about benefits for all.
Yayasan Solidaridad Network Indonesia values the importance of measuring its contribution to the climate agenda in general and carbon emission reduction specifically. Solidaridad Indonesia and Keling Kumang Group (KKG) have been actively working towards building new alliances towards the sustainable development of West Kalimantan under the Vision “Borneo without Poverty. We have now joined hands with PT. Pupuk Kalimantan Timur (PKT), Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) and the University of Tanjungpura Pontianak (UNTAN).
The Governor of West Kalimantan Province has expressed his commitment to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. West Kalimantan is committed to reducing its emissions to the equivalent of between 7.8 and 13.3% of the national emissions reduction target (SRAP REDD+/ REDD+ Strategic Action Plan analysis results Kalimantan 2013). Sintang’s local development planning is geared to contribute improve agriculture includes: (i) application of technology and quality seeds and (ii) encouraging the development of smallholder agribusiness (rubber, palm oil, local fruits) that contributes high economic value to the district. The Regents of the districts have been significantly empowered to take appropriate actions as needed.
Specifically with respect to palm oil, the provincial government indicated the importance of complying with environmentally friendly practices as prescribed by the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) standard, both for private sector companies and smallholder oil palm growers. Forests are also included in the local development plan, especially the development of both community forests and industrial plantations. The plan encourages public participation in the development of land use for plantations to drive the sector towards environmentally friendly practices (e.g. shifting timber harvesting from natural forests to plantations) and sustainable agriculture and forestry.
The President of RI has released Presidential Decree in July 2017 to accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs. This regulation pushes national and local government to work toward achieving SDGs. Through this project, Solidaridad Indonesia will support and collaborate with national and local Government in the selected districts for achieving the SDGs.
The key SDGs for Sintang district are as follow:
- Social forestry and agrarian reform
- Energy and electricity
- Prevention of Forest Fire and Conservation of Peat Land
- Sustainable commodities
- Conservation and Restoration
Our program will not only include palm oil, but also rice, coconut and palm sugar.
The efforts will need to be continued and level up to the Jurisdictional Approach for Zero Deforestation in all the targeted districts to reduce the rate of deforestation caused by oil palm expansion. Solidaridad Indonesia together with Credit Union Keling Kumang (CUKK) – a part of KKG – are collaborating in getting the buy in from Regent of five districts in West Kalimantan to commit to the implementation of developing and implementing a stakeholders’ agreement to improve the livelihoods of smallholders’ dependency on oil palm cultivation while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and avoiding deforestation. Zero Deforestation within the area of Sintang, Sanggau, Sekadau, Melawi and Kapuas Hulu is a crucial part of the program. In addition, both partners are now working to approach the Regents of Landak, Singkawang and Bengkayang to join the collaboration. The continuation of this project will keep up current efforts to improve smallholders’ livelihoods while protecting environment.
The Regents of the mentioned five – soon to be eight – districts are pledging to collaboratively coordinate the efforts of establishing sustainable conservation of West Kalimantan; conserve the forest areas; reduce damage of the forest by carrying out agroforestry efforts through community forest within the respective districts; keeping the environment sustainable by carrying out the efforts of environment-friendly farming techniques and to obey towards Zero Deforestation commitment. Solidaridad Indonesia and Keling Kumang team are committed to delivering not only the priorities set for the districts in question, but also reaching up to meet the provincial SDGs imperatives for West Kalimantan. Steps would also be taken for the creation of appropriate multi-stakeholder platform to support sustainable development in West Kalimantan.
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Solidaridad is an international network organization with offices across the globe. There is a single agenda and a single strategy: together we learn and progress, together we achieve results and together we decide on future steps. The network consists of 10 regional expertise centers (REC) located in South and South-East Asia, Andes, South America, Southern Africa, East and Central Africa, West Africa, China, Central America, North America, and the Netherlands — each with their own specific expertise and focus.
Each of the regional offices is responsible for contributing to the international commodity policy and strategy. Additionally, they oversee the development and implementation of Solidaridad's regional strategy and programs. Regional office management is the responsibility of the individual regional managing directors.
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