Are national commitments to reducing emissions from forests effective? Lessons from Indonesia

For Indonesia to achieve its greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments, it will have to reduce emissions from deforestation, forest degradation and peatland degradation. The National Action Plan for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions was Indonesia's first comprehensive plan. It reflected Indonesia's emission reduction commitments to 2020, and the first phase ran from 2010 to 2014. This research evaluates its design and implementation. It assesses seven out of thirteen actions that were implemented to reduce emissions from forestry and peatland degradation. It is shown that only two actions had a direct, evidence-based link to emission sources. Three actions had some evidence of a link, albeit dependent on many factors. For the remaining two actions, focused on emissions from agriculture in peatland, there was no information to demonstrate clear and targeted implementation of the actions. The analysis also shows that the indicators listed in the National Action Plan were insufficient to demonstrate meaningful reductions of emissions. Part of the explanation for the problematic design of the actions is that many of them were pre-existing policies, aimed at achieving a variety of different objectives that were just rebadged as climate change actions.