13 July 2009
Indonesia's forestry ministry has released what are believed to be the world's first set of revenue sharing rules for income derived from a UN-backed scheme called reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation, or REDD. The profit-sharing rules will help clear up important questions arising from Indonesia's release in May of the world's first set of formal regulations governing who could carry out a REDD project and in which type of forest.
In an article by Sunanda Creagh for Reuters, it is revealed that between 10 and 50 percent of the profits from REDD projects will be taken by the Indonesian government, depending on the type of forest. Of that portion, 20 percent will go to the provincial government, 40 percent to the regency government and 40 percent to the central government in Jakarta. Between 20 and 70 percent will go to local communities.
"This is the first time, in black and white, there has been a realistic indication of revenue sharing," said Tobias Garritt, CEO of Emerald Planet Indonesia, which is jointly developing REDD projects on 250,000 hectares (625,000 acres) of forest in Papua, eastern Indonesia. "This appears to be a well put together regulation that would provide some certainty to the market."
Deforestation is responsible for nearly 20 percent of mankind's greenhouse gas emissions and the United Nations has backed REDD as a way to put a price on those emissions to try to curb forest destruction.The scheme, if formally included in a broader UN climate pact to be negotiated at a major conference at the end of the year, could potentially unlock billions of dollars in annual revenues for developing nations.
But green groups say the key to the scheme's success hinges on a large portion of the money going to local communities to help them develop alternative livelihoods to ensure the forests stay standing.
Source: Reuters. For the full article, click here.