The Environment and Forestry Ministry is continuing to encourage the inclusion of blue carbon in the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) document considering its potential to store carbon, a senior official has said.
Blue carbon is a term used to refer to the carbon stored in marine and coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves and seagrass beds. Meanwhile, NDC is an emission reduction contribution document that reflects the commitment of each state party in the Paris Agreement.
“The NDC document has not included the blue carbon as part of the consideration of the NDC mitigation target. However, we, as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) national focal point have developed and implemented the attempts to include the consideration or potential of the blue carbon in the context of NDC,” director general of climate change control at the ministry, Laksmi Dwanthi, said during a virtual discussion here on Wednesday.
Indonesia’s blue carbon potential can be found in its large marine area, which contains 23 percent of the world’s mangroves ecosystem, she informed.
“It is a very significant area related to the potential carbon absorption, not only in Indonesia but also at the global level,” the director general added.
Hence, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya as well as Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono have held discussions with experts on assessing how far Indonesia can include the blue carbon potential in the context of climate change mitigation, Dwanthi said.
Meanwhile, in the context of adaptation, the ministry has taken various steps and programs to make the policy mainstream, especially in coastal areas, for instance by implementing the Climate Village Program, she informed.
In addition, Indonesia had cooperated with other archipelagic countries–Fiji and Costa Rica–to submit a proposal to integrate marine aspects in climate change issues at the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in 2019, she added.
Source: Antara News