TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - US Ambassador Robert Blake, expressed the US's government support towards Indonesia’s climate change goals during the "Climate Fesival" event held by the Environment and Forestry Ministryo Monday, February 2, 2016. Ambassador Blake also announced two projects aimed at supporting the newly established Peatland Retoration Agency.

The first project announced by Blake is the US$ 17 million Berbak Green Prosperity Project that will help to restore the hydrology of peat swamp forests in Jambi in an effort to decrease the prevalence of peat fires in the region. The project will also provide training to increase production of local agriculture and will facilitate smallholder oil palm certifications and community-based palm oil mill effluent renewable energy systems.

The second initiative is a US$13 million agreement with three palm oil mills in Riau Province for biogas power plants utilizing Palm Oil Mill Effluent and assisting independent smallholders in each mill’s supply base to become RSPO certified.  The project is expected to produce 3 MW of renewable energy from biogas, enough to power 9,000 rural homes; capture 117,000 tCO2e/year, which is equivalent to emissions from 785 million kilometers drive per year; and to improve productivity and management practices for 2,000 independent smallholders.

The two projects, funded under the Millennium Challenge Corporation's Compact with Indonesia, will help restore and protect the country's peatland areas which have been threatened by fire in recent years, and are a major contributor to the release of greenhouse gases.

In addition to the abovementioned projects, the United States, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has recently launched a new portfolio of projects to address climate change and support Indonesia's goal of reducing green house gas emissions by 29 percent by 2030. The USAID will partner with the Indonesian government to help conserve and sustainably manage 8.4 million hectares of forest and peatland that can serve as carbon sinks.

Moreover, the USAID will help eliminate 4.5 tons of greenhouse gas emissions and leverage US$800 million of private sector investment in clean energy for five million citizens. USAID will also help protect local communities from the effects of a changing climate and more extreme weather by assisting national and provincial governments implement effective climate change adaptation strategies.

Back in 2015, the USAID had also invested more than US$38 million in environmental initiatives while in the near future, the Agency plans to invest US$47 million for forest conservation and land use planning, US$24 million for land use policy and conservation advocacy, US$19 million for global climate change adaptation, US$19 for clean energy and US$5 million for forest research.

MAHINDA ARKYASA