Low Carbon News in Indonesia in September 2014
Pertamina Cilacap Produces Eco-Friendly Petrol
TEMPO.CO, Saturday, 30 August, 2014 | 07:08 WIB
PT Pertamina Refinery Unit IV in Cilacap launched its petroleum product called the EXDO-4 that was claimed as an eco-friendly product. Pertamina RU IV General Manager Edy Prabowo said on Wednesday, that the product would be exported to Malaysia.
Lead of Supply Chain & Distribution at Pertamina RU IV, Joko Sulistyo, said the EXDO-4 would be utilized as a raw material to produce tires. The substance was made of non-carcinogenic materials that would not cause cancer.
http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2014/08/30/206603237/Pertamina-Cilacap-Produces-Eco-Friendly-Petrol
Bandung govt urged to scrap waste incinerator technology plans
The Jakarta Post, Bandung | Mon, September 01 2014, 10:41 AM
The Bandung administration should review a tender awarded to a private-sector firm to develop a waste-based power plant (PLTSA), as the planned use of waste incineration technology to generate electricity is incommensurate with the character of waste in Bandung, says a conservationist.
Global Alliance on Incinerator Alternatives member Yuyun Ismawati said that like other cities in Indonesia, waste in Bandung was predominantly “wet.” This wetness” made incineration an inappropriate means of generating electricity — especially through boilers — since it would require extreme heat. “This would mean burning water by using diesel fuel and coal, such that it’s not the waste that is being burned,” Yuyun said in Bandung on Friday.
The Bandung administration, meanwhile, has been resolute about plans to construct a PLTSA in Gedebage, which lies to the east of the city. The decision was based on a meeting between Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil and the Bandung municipal consultative board in July this year.
Bandung Environmental Management Agency head Eric M. Atthauriq said the government should begin preparing the tipping fee value — also known waste as waste management costs — or the power plant.
Makassar Animal Husbandry Agency Develop Biogas from Manure
TEMPO.CO, Sunday, 07 September, 2014 | 11:32 WIB
Jakarta – Makassar Animal Husbandry, Fishery and Marine Affairs Agency (DKP3) is planning a break through biogas development out of cattle’s manure. Makassar DKP3 Head Abdul Rahman Bando said on Thursday that the biogas will be converted into electric and heat energy.
According to Abdul Rahman, a trial project is in progress by the Agriculture Campaign Station (BPP), Makassar. “They have succeeded in powering up lightings in the cattle cage and a guard post using manure produced by three cows,” explained Abdul. Rahman plan to implement the biogas project at the Animal Slaughter House (RPH) Tamangapa. There are 60 to 100 cattle that will be able to produce biogas enough for 300 families around the slaughter house.
Indonesia Offers Grants from UNEP to End Use of Ozone-Depleting Substances
The Jakarta Globe On 06:55 am Sep 12, 2014
The Environment Ministry hopes to entice air-conditioner and refrigerator manufacturers in Indonesia into moving away from their use of ozone-depleting chemicals with the offer of a hefty grant from the United Nations Environment Program. Fifteen manufacturers have signed a pledge to gradually phase out their use of hydrochlorofluorocarbons, or HCFCs, as refrigerants, according to Arief Yuwono, the deputy minister for environmental degradation and climate change.
His deputy, Ema Rachmawati, said that another 16 air-conditioner manufacturers and 24 refrigerator makers were in talks with the ministry to sign a similar agreement. “We are confident that they’ll soon sign the agreement,” she said on Wednesday.
Under the agreement, each manufacturer will be entitled to a grant of $12 million or more from the UNEP to help them switch from HCFC compounds to non-HCFC compounds in their manufacturing processes.
Arief said the government hoped to reduce HCFC use by 10 percent by the end of this year, and by 97.5 percent by 2040. In 2007, Indonesia successfully halted the use of CFCs, halon and methyl bromide, methyl chloroform and carbon tetra chlorides (CTCs), all substances that contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer — two years earlier than a target set under the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/indonesia-offers-grants-unep-end-use-ozone-depleting-substances/
Your letters: Paying for biofuel with the environment
| Readers Forum | Mon, September 15 2014, 10:38 AM
Biofuel has long been seen as the cure for our oil addiction. As an alternative source of energy, biofuel is said to be “carbon neutral” and has great potential to reduce Indonesia’s dependency and expenditure on petroleum-based fuels. Iwan Ganiwa, the director of energy studies at the University of Indonesia, said that the government could save about US$3 billion per year through the increased usage of biofuel.
Indeed, over the last decade, the government has deployed targets for biofuel production, established an array of fuel-blending policies and offered investment incentives for the development of a national biofuel industry. The government has, for example, set a regulation that requires a blend of at least 10 percent biofuel in diesel used by commercial businesses, as well as the mining and mining services sector. Going forward, the government is also enforcing a 2 percent mixture of biofuel for commercial airlines. Companies like Wilmar and MedcoEnergi have started to respond to incentives by building and investing in large biorefineries in Indonesia.
Given that biofuel is becoming a point of focus on our energy agenda, it is important that we carefully review the environmental trade-off of biofuel production that we so often overlook.
Biofuel’s main attraction is its potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions because, even though biofuels give off CO2 when burned, the amount that they release is equivalent to the amount that has been absorbed from the atmosphere by the crops used to produce them. This perception of biofuel as “carbon neutral”, however, often misleads us to think that biofuel is necessarily better for the environment.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/09/15/your-letters-paying-biofuel-with-environment.html
RI ratifies haze treaty
Margareth S. Aritonang, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Headlines | Wed, September 17 2014, 9:17 AM
Indonesia has officially adopted a decade-old regional haze treaty following pressure from neighboring countries over forest fires on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan. A House of Representatives’ plenary meeting on Tuesday endorsed the ratification of the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, which obliges Indonesia, as one of the member states, to actively involve itself in efforts to mitigate air pollution, both nationally and through intensified regional and international cooperation.
Indonesia was the only ASEAN country left to ratify the agreement, having signed the pact in 2002 along with the other member states.
The agreement was formulated as a response to an environmental crisis that hit Southeast Asia in the late 1990s, which was mainly caused by slash-and-burn clearance for agricultural purposes in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
The country’s failure to ratify the treaty was mainly down to lawmakers’ concerns over potential breaches of sovereignty. The majority of lawmakers, particularly from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), were concerned that the treaty, which Indonesia signed during the presidency of the PDI-P’s Megawati Soekarnoputri, could infringe Indonesia’s sovereignty, as signatory states would be involved in a task force to extinguish fires, mainly on Indonesian soil, and would have to share relevant information.
During the plenary meeting on Tuesday, lawmaker Milton Pakpahan, who chairs the House’s Commission VII overseeing energy and natural mineral resources, said all the political factions at the House eventually supported the ratification. “The decision to finally ratify the agreement is motivated by the frequent forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan that have caused transboundary haze pollution. Such incidents have also disrupted transportation and the economy,” said Milton, a Democratic Party politician.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/09/17/ri-ratifies-haze-treaty.html
New regional body to net forest criminals
Margareth S. Aritonang, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Headlines | Thu, September 18 2014, 8:06 AM
Indonesia is proposing to lead the forthcoming ASEAN secretariat in charge of joint efforts to mitigate transboundary air pollution caused by land and forest fires in the region. As the last of the signatories to ratify the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, Indonesia’s decision to officially adopt the decade-old treaty on Tuesday finally paved the way for the establishment of a joint secretariat that will function to coordinate the information, reports and policies needed to address the problems raised by transboundary haze pollution in the region.
“It will be good for Indonesia to host the secretariat as it will make the most of the country’s role in the efforts jointly taken to face the problems caused by transboundary haze pollution, which mostly originates from this country,” the Environment Ministry’s deputy minister for environmental damage control and climate change, Arief Yuwono, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Arief explained that the joint secretariat would bring together international experts who would work on comprehensive recommendations for state members dealing with land and forest fires that cause transboundary air pollution. Arief was aware of the concern that such a secretariat could open a door for the infringement of territorial sovereignty, but he said that the office would only serve as a center for information sharing, to which a state member could contribute. Upon the establishment of the secretariat, Article 20 of the haze treaty requires voluntary fund-raising from state members to finance the programs.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/09/18/new-regional-body-net-forest-criminals.html
Indonesia’s children will lead the way to a green economy
Satya S. Tripathi, Jakarta | Opinion | Fri, September 19 2014, 11:52 AM
Indonesia’s youth are a force to be reckoned with, in both national and global terms. Of a population of roughly 250 million (the fourth-largest in the world), around 50 percent of Indonesians are aged below 30 and 29 percent are between zero and 14 years of age. A green generation in Indonesia would propel Indonesia’s green economy transition. Further, it would inject considerable momentum into the global sustainability agenda. It is with a sense of great potential and anticipation that the Government of Indonesia has committed to identifying and supporting one million Green Youth Ambassadors in schools and communities across the country by 2017.
Schools are critical arenas in delivering the vision articulated by REDD+ and Indonesia’s broader green economy transition. President Yudhoyono referred to schools — and homes — in his speech at Harvard University in 2009 (right after the Pittsburgh Summit), calling them “the real battlegrounds for the hearts and minds of future generations”.
The rationale for Indonesia’s green youth ambassador program is based on recognition of the power for positive change that each child represents. Should this power be joined and scaled up to form a nationwide network of young people committed to delivering a sustainable and prosperous future for themselves, there will be momentous positive consequences for their nation and their world.
Indef Calls On Jokowi to Prioritize Energy Diversification Program
The Jakarta Globe On 04:22 pm Sep 24, 2014
The Institute for Development of Economics and Finance, of Indef as the independent think tank is known, is calling on President-elect Joko Widodo to make energy diversification program a top priority when he takes office.
Indef director Enny Sri Hartati said on Wednesday that Joko needs to reallocate the fuel subsidy budget for energy diversification so that the public would have a cheaper source of alternative energy when the government decides to increase subsidized fuel prices. Joko has proposed cutting the budget for the fuel subsidy and to increase the price of subsidized fuels. “Energy policies have always been carried out partially. For instance, the SBY administration increased the price of subsidized fuel but the reallocation [of the budget] wasn’t clear,” Enny said, referring to outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
She said that the national energy mix policy is simply jargon and that the current administration has never implemented the roadmap on energy mix. Enny, though, disagreed with Joko’s plan to reallocate the fuel subsidy for infrastructure development.
ASEAN biodiversity and climate change: SOS
Jamal M.Gawi, Jakarta | Opinion | Tue, September 23 2014, 7:56 AM
Located strategically in the tropics with a total population of more than 600 million and a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 5.3 percent in 2013, a strong regional entity and forming the unique Indo-Malayan region ASEAN is not only geopolitically important but also to host one of the most diverse ecosystems comprising 20 percent of the world’s terrestrial and marine biodiversity.
ASEAN is also home to 25 million hectares of inimitable peatlands representing 60 percent of the world’s total tropical peatlands, which play a pivotal role in supporting economic development, biodiversity conservation, carbon sinks, food security and livelihood.
The study on climate change vulnerability in Southeast Asian nations found that the whole of the Philippines, the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam, almost all the regions of Cambodia, North and East Laos, the Bangkok region of Thailand, West and South Sumatra and West and East Java in Indonesia are among the most vulnerable regions to climate change impact on the economy, environment (including biodiversity) and the social life of the population.
Those threats to biodiversity are rooted deep in the interactions of a number of factors. First, most of the ASEAN Heritage Parks (AHPS) are not well managed. Illegal activities such as illegal logging, encroachment, wildlife poaching and trade, illegal road construction and illegal land clearing for agriculture and settlements have been frequently heard of inside ASEAN-protected areas.
Second, a closer look at the drivers of deforestation reveals that most of the threats to biodiversity conservation, such as infrastructure and agricultural expansion, mining, energy and other development activities, originate from outside the protected areas. Therefore, it is crucial to mainstream biodiversity conservation into development plans, as outlined in the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
Third, on biodiversity database and research, there are urgent needs for (1) gathering basic ecological data; (2) making long-term studies to understand the effects of habitat loss on biotas and their resilience; (3) maintaining biotic sustainability in regenerating and degraded habitats; (4) assessing socioeconomic and climate-driven biodiversity loss; and (5) understanding and integrating indigenous conservation regimes and knowledge into conservation planning.
Fourth, in addition to the weak institutions responsible for biodiversity conservation and protected area management in most ASEAN member states, the regional institution established to look after biodiversity conservation, the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), is still struggling to prove itself as a center of excellence in biodiversity conservation.
A lack of funding, experts and coordination are among three of the most acute issues. The Environment Division of the ASEAN Secretariat is also facing similar problems.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/09/23/asean-biodiversity-and-climate-change-sos.html
Palm Oil Producers Affirm Commitment to Sustainability
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta Friday, 26 September, 2014 | 10:32 WIB
Indonesia’s major palm oil producers, along with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (KADIN), signed a pledge which affirmed their commitment to sustainable production practices at the United Nations (UN) Climate Summit in New York on Thursday, September 25, 2014.
The signing of the pledge by Wilmar, Golden Agri Resources, Asian Agri, Cargill and KADIN – witnessed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was in New York on his last tour of duty before stepping down in October – affirmed the signatories’ commitment to advance Indonesian sustainable palm oil by improving environmental stewardship, promoting cooperation to develop policies, legal, and regulatory framework for the implementation of the pledge, expand social benefits and improve the competitiveness of Indonesian palm oil.
SBY highlights policies on forest protection
Antara, New York | Headlines | Thu, September 25 2014, 9:37 AM
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono presented four national forest protection policies to preserve nature and the climate during his speech at the UN Climate Summit on forests at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) chamber at the UN Headquarters in New York City on Tuesday. “Based on our experience, we have four policies on forest preservation in Indonesia,” he said at the session, which was opened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The President said that the first policy involved Indonesia’s commitment to reducing its carbon emissions by 26 percent by the year 2020. Yudhoyono added that with international support, the reduction target could be increased to 41 percent.
“The second one is that Indonesia has signed a memorandum of understanding related to the utilization and conversion of licenses aimed at protecting the more than 63 million hectares of primary forests and peatlands,” he said.
He added that the Indonesian government had implemented the policy to protect its forests by involving all stakeholders, communities and several community-based organizations that were at the forefront of sustainable forest management efforts.
The fourth policy was the formation of a task force to protect forests and to ensure that everything was appropriately managed to achieve the goals set forth.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/09/25/sby-highlights-policies-forest-protection.html
Bandar Lampung, Mercy Corps to build ‘waste banks’
Oyos Saroso H. N., The Jakarta Post, Bandar Lampung | Archipelago | Sat, September 27 2014, 10:16 AM
The Bandar Lampung municipality has established a cooperation with humanitarian NGO Mercy Corps regarding waste management in the city by setting up “waste banks” through the Trash to Cash program. The collaboration was marked by the signing on Friday of a memorandum of understanding between the Bandar Lampung municipality, Mercy Corps Indonesia and the Rockefeller Foundation during a Trash to Cash event at which a feasibility study and waste-bank business plan were publicized.
The event was organized jointly by the three stakeholders. Bharat R. Phatak from Mercy Corps said the Trash for Cash event was part of efforts to assess waste management in Bandar Lampung city in an integrated manner. The Trash to Cash program is currently in place in three subdistricts, namely South Panjang in Panjang district, Bumi Waras in Bumi Waras district, and Kota Karang in East Teluk Betung district, with a target of 36,176 beneficiaries across the three subdistricts.
The waste bank is part of activities to give added economic value to garbage, which are being carried out in a participatory manner by residents. Residents collect dry household waste, such as cartons, cans and magazines, which are then sold to the waste processor for recycling.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/09/27/bandar-lampung-mercy-corps-build-waste-banks.html