Forests and peat soil are the biggest sources of gas emissions in Indonesia, as it supplied 56 percent of the national carbon emitters.
“Judging from Indonesia`s emission profile, the biggest contributor are forests and peat land,” Head of the Land and Forestry Change of Use National Working Group the Climate Change National Council (DNPI) Doddy S. Sukadri said here Tuesday.
He said the result of an analysis and research by DNPI shows that the forests and peat soil remained the biggest suppliers of gas emissions in Indonesia until 2020-2030.
“Some 80 to 85 pct of the national emission rate in 2005 was produced by forests and peat soil,” he said.
Sukadri said in the context of climate change forests are playing three important roles which need to be maintained, namely as carbon removal, storage of carbon zinc, and carbon emitter, especially when burning or lack of coverage due to illegal logging.
“Forests are playing an important role in stabilizing emissions. If coverage is lacking, it will automatically reduce carbon removal capacity,” he said.
He said the forestry sector and peat soil users need to work hard to lower at least 14 percent of the gas emission from 26 pct each year, which had been planned by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono under the program of Reducing Emission From Revolution and Forest Degradation (REDD).
“If 26 pct each year, it means the forests and peat land need to lower at least 14 pct or 56 pct of the national emission,” Sukadri said.
He also said that if concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere exceeds 454 per million caused by gas emissions, the air temperature will rise by more than two degrees Celsius.
“Transportation, energy, agriculture, wastes and others also produced emissions, but in Indonesia it mostly came from forests and peat land,” he said.
