In a June visit, President Barack Obama and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono are expected to formalize a new "Comprehensive Partnership" between the United States and Indonesia, two of the world's leading greenhouse gas-emitting nations.
While the details of this partnership have not yet been released, one thing is certain: a true comprehensive partnership between these two countries is an unprecedented opportunity to address the global climate challenge through reducing emissions from deforestation.
Indonesia has announced that a key strategy for "low carbon prosperity" is the use of degraded land rather than forested or peat land for oil palm plantation expansion. The effective implementation of this strategy -- combined with international support for avoiding deforestation -- can help protect Indonesia's globally significant carbon- and biodiversity-rich tropical rainforests while promoting local prosperity. Forests and Palm Oil: Contradictory Policies?
In late 2009, Indonesia committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2020, or by 41 percent with foreign assistance. Land use change from deforestation and peat land conversion has accounted for more than 80 percent of Indonesia's annual greenhouse gas emissions. Indonesia aims to achieve a majority of its targeted reductions by reducing emissions from deforestation and peat land conversion.
At the same time, in response to growing global and local demand, Indonesia aims to approximately double its current palm oil production to 40 million metric tons per year by 2020. By some estimates this will require an additional 5 million hectares of oil palm plantations, an area larger than Switzerland.
Palm oil is a lucrative crop; it is used as a common cooking oil and biofuel, as well as an ingredient in many processed foods and cosmetics. Palm oil production generates profits, employment, infrastructure development and government revenue.
Even with substantial yield improvements, further expansion of land use will be necessary to achieve these production targets. Many plantations are already planned on land that is currently forested. If the planned expansion occurs at the expense of forest and peat lands, as it has in the past, Indonesia will be unable to achieve its emissions reductions target and the world will suffer the irreplaceable loss of Indonesia's biodiverse tropical forests.
An Alternative: Palm Oil on Degraded Land
An attractive alternative is to expand palm oil production on degraded land instead of forested or peat land.
In this context, degraded land refers to areas that were cleared of forests long ago and that now contain low carbon stocks and low levels of biodiversity, such as along grasslands. According to economic analyses by WWF and Indonesia's National Development Planning Agency, as well as fieldwork carried out by WRI and local partner Sekala, many of these areas have suitable soil for oil palm cultivation, can produce comparable yields relative to recently deforested land, and are viewed as underproductive by local communities.
A number of studies indicate that there is enough degraded land to accommodate Indonesia's expected oil palm expansion past 2020. The Indonesian government estimates that a strategy that diverts future oil palm expansion away from peat to degraded land could reduce projected greenhouse gas emissions by 37 percent without a significant reduction in total economic benefits.
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