Will Indonesia be Successful in Reducing its Greenhouse Gas Emissions with REDD+?: the Threat of Organizational Fragmentation

REDD+ schemes are likely to be important components of climate change mitigation strategies for developing countries in a post-Kyoto framework. Many tropical forest countries have been preparing their REDD+ structures in anticipation of the requirements for REDD+ investment. Indonesia, as one of the main REDD+ supporters, is struggling to establish its REDD+ governance framework and REDD+ infrastructure while waiting for the REDD+ mechanism to be ready for implementation at the global level. Demonstration activities are being conducted and several policy documents and regulations have been released since 2007. However, some issues remain outstanding, including organization fragmentation, raising concerns as to whether a REDD+ scheme can be implemented to effectively reduce Indonesia’s greenhouse gas emissions. This paper examines Indonesia’s efforts in preparing the REDD+ scheme through evaluations of climate change and REDD+ policy products from various government organizations. Descriptive analysis involving observations on various climate change and REDD+ products is used to reveal complexities that exist within the relationship among government organizations. This paper exposes six lessons learned from Indonesia’s experience and concludes that reduction of organization fragmentation on REDD+ is to be the highest priority action for Indonesia in the short term. With a clear organization framework, REDD+ implementation will be easier to manage and potentially increase investor confidence in REDD+ projects in Indonesia.