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Viewing cable 07JAKARTA2683, INDONESIA AT THE MAJOR ECONOMIES MEETING

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07JAKARTA2683 2007-09-21 09:10 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Jakarta
VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHJA #2683/01 2640910
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 210910Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6394
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0683
UNCLAS JAKARTA 002683 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MTS AND EAP/RSP 
DEPT FOR OES/IET AND OES/ETC 
NSC FOR CEQ CONNAUGHTON, VAN DYKE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG SENV KGHG ECON PREL ID
SUBJECT: INDONESIA AT THE MAJOR ECONOMIES MEETING 
 
1. (SBU) Summary and Introduction: Indonesia wants the Major 
Economies Meeting to increase prospects for the success of the 13th 
UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP 13) in Bali in December.  The 
GOI will be sensitive to any negative portrayal of Indonesia, 
whether as a destroyer of forests or as one of the largest emitter 
of greenhouse gases.  GOI officials have generally given the MEM the 
benefit of the doubt; they view it as a "confidence building 
measure" on the road to COP 13, a "political building block" for a 
successful outcome to Bali.  The composition of Indonesia's 
delegation to the MEM shows that they see themselves participating 
wearing two hats: as a major greenhouse gas emitter as well as host 
to COP 13. 
 
2. (SBU) GOI officials emphasize the urgency of addressing climate 
change with immediate and concrete steps.  They also emphasize that 
Indonesia and other developing countries must balance economic 
development with environmental concerns.  Indonesia has particular 
interest in seeking financial mechanisms (such as carbon trading) to 
protect rainforests and expanding biofuels.  The GOI delegation will 
therefore be most engaged on discussion of land use/forestry as well 
as cleaner power generation and fuel technologies, including 
financing and technology transfer for developing countries.  They 
will also be interested in adaptation funds for protecting coral 
reefs and coastal communities that depend on reef ecosystems.  End 
summary and introduction. 
 
Wearing Two Hats: The Indonesian MEM Delegation 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
3. (SBU) Indonesia's delegation to the MEM reflects its two separate 
but related roles: as a major GHG emitter as well as host to COP 13. 
 Minister of Environment Rachmat Witoelar and Presidential Advisor 
Dr. Emil Salim will wear the host-to-COP 13 hat, while a more 
technical group led by Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources 
Purnomo Yusgiatoro will represent Indonesia as major economy and GHG 
emitter.  The group under Minister Purnomo may include (as of 
September 20, this was still unclear): 
 
-- Dr. Nenny Sri Utami, Head of Energy Resources Research and 
Development Agency, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources; 
-- Ms. Masnellyarti Hilman, Deputy Minister of Environment for 
Nature Conservation Enhancement and Environmental Degradation 
Control; 
-- Dr. Yetty Rusli, Head of Forest Planning Agency (BAPLAN) OR Mr. 
Wahyudi Wardoyo, Head of Forestry Research and Planning Agency 
(BALITBANG), Ministry of Forestry; and 
-- Mr. Salman Al-Farisi, Director for Development, Economic and 
Environmental Affairs (instead of Reslan Izhar Jenie, Director 
General for Multilateral, Financial and Development Affairs, 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs). 
 
MEM: A Good Sign, but It WILL Tie into COP 13, Right? 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
4. (SBU) High-level USG statements and conversations between GOI 
officials and USG officials have significantly allayed concerns that 
the MEM process will be separate from and somehow undermine COP 13. 
GOI officials, however, will seek continued assurances that the MEM 
process will dovetail into the UNFCCC process and contribute to a 
successful COP 13.  Minister Witoelar and others welcome the MEM to 
the extent that it provides an opportunity for serious dialogue 
among major countries that could lay the basis for consensus on some 
climate change issues by December.  Witoelar has expressed hope that 
this initiative might help pressure Russia, China, and India to 
engage constructively at COP 13. 
 
Third Largest Emitter?  That's Your Opinion 
------------------------------------------- 
 
5. (SBU) With the world focused on Indonesia as host to COP 13, the 
GOI is sensitive to claims that Indonesia is the third largest 
emitter of greenhouse gases, mainly from deforestation and land use 
change.  While acknowledging that Indonesia is a large emitter, both 
Minister Witoelar and Dr. Salim have publicly questioned the 
accuracy of this statistic and say that there are reports that show 
otherwise.  At the MEM and other climate change fora, the GOI would 
prefer for other countries to regard it primarily in its role as COP 
13 host, not as a top-five GHG emitter.  Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
officials have echoed this line. 
 
Wait and See: From the MEM to Pre-COP Ministerial 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
6. (SBU) The GOI's four main COP 13 agenda items will determine its 
positions and interests at the MEM: a post-2012 mitigation strategy; 
an adaptation funding mechanism; reducing emissions from 
deforestation and degradation; and technology transfer.  The GOI 
understands that successful outcomes in each of these areas depends 
largely on the success of upcoming meetings, including the September 
24 U.N. discussions, the MEM, and October 24-25 pre-COP ministerial 
in Bogor.  For this reason, the GOI will wait until early October to 
finalize a discussion non-paper on these items for the pre-COP 
ministerial.  Indonesia hopes that the U.N. meetings and the MEM 
will facilitate movement towards consensus on these issues among 
both developed and developing countries. 
 
Your Money, Our Forests: Avoided Deforestation and the F8 (Forestry 
Eight) 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
7. (SBU) The GOI wants the rest of the world to pay countries like 
Indonesia to preserve its rich tropical forests.  It will focus on 
what the MEM has to say about land use and forestry.  GOI officials 
are focusing on "carbon credits for not cutting down trees", or any 
other mechanism that assigns their standing forests financial value. 
 President Yudhoyono's recently proposed "Forestry Eight" group of 
countries with significant rainforests (the GOI claims that the 
group now includes up to 20 countries) would focus on preparing a 
common position on economic incentives for reduced emissions from 
deforestation and degradation (REDD), via "avoided deforestation". 
Indonesia wants to develop this common position to increase their 
bargaining position at COP 13.  Although Minister Witoelar has 
publicly stated that "We're all in agreement now for the first 
time", it is unclear whether the GOI has gotten buy-in from all 
these countries.  The group's first meeting will take place on the 
sidelines of the U.N. annual plenary session in New York on 
September 24. 
 
Financing Mitigation, Adaptation, and Clean Technology 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
8. (SBU) The GOI has repeatedly emphasized that it wants to balance 
its economic development with environmental concerns.  Therefore, in 
addition to financial mechanisms to protect rainforests, the GOI has 
particular interest in low-cost financing of clean technologies. 
The GOI wants to pursue cleaner power generation and fuel 
technologies.  It will be very interested in discussions about 
affordable technology transfer. 
 
9. (SBU) The Indonesians will raise not only financing for 
technology transfer, but also financing for climate change 
mitigation and adaptation.  The Indonesian REDD proposal developed 
by the GOI and the World Bank is the most advanced REDD country 
proposal at this time.  The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility 
(FCPF) is one REDD instrument that the World Bank wants to launch at 
COP 13.  However, Indonesia would prefer to work climate change 
activities through a multi-donor fund such as the World 
Bank-proposed Indonesia Climate and Resource Use Sustainability 
(ICARUS) Fund, over which it could have more management control. 
 
Coral Reefs and the Coral Triangle Initiative 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
10. (SBU) President SBY discussed U.S. support for a new 
multilateral partnership called the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) 
with President Bush at the APEC Summit.  Dr. Salim and several 
ministers have also raised the Coral Triangle Initiative (and the 
importance of preserving the coral reefs as carbon sinks) in 
conversations and public statements.  The GOI delegation may suggest 
that any incentives for avoided deforestation also include coral 
reef conservation, or that adaptation funds also target reef 
ecosystems and their dependent coastal communities. 
 
 
HUME