VISIT OF OES A/S MCMURRAY TO INDONESIA, CLIMATE CHANGE AND

UNCLAS JAKARTA 002139 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/MTS AND EB/IFD/ODF NSC FOR CEQ CONNAUGHTON, VAN DYKE TREASURY FOR TFCA - BERG DEPARTMENT FOR OES/IET and OES/ETC E.O. 12598: N/A TAGS: SENV EAID ECON TBIO ENRG ID SUBJECT: VISIT OF OES A/S MCMURRAY TO INDONESIA, CLIMATE CHANGE AND COP-13 ¶1. (U) Summary. In a visit to Indonesia July 26-29, OES A/S McMurray and several Indonesian officials discussed climate change policy and the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 13th Conference of Parties (UNFCCC COP-13) meeting in Bali December 3-14. Dr. Emil Salim, President Yudhoyono's chief environmental advisor, urged strong USG participation at COP-13 and leadership on climate change. Officials at the Ministry of Forestry and the Environment expressed interest in carbon trading incentives to help preserve Indonesia's forests and would like to work closely with the USG on this issue before COP-13. End Summary. Climate Change Challenges: U.S. Message -------------- ¶2. (SBU) A/S McMurray's message was that climate change challenges need buy-in from all countries, especially from the largest economies, energy users and emitters. Large, growing economies like India and China also need to show up at the table: the UN system has not yet brought them in adequately. Real technology exists now for China to have cleaner manufacturing and processing. Ambassador Hume noted that the population of the U.S. has doubled in his lifetime, while many European populations have been stagnant or only growing through immigration, which needed to factor into deliberation of greenhouse gas emissions performance. A/S McMurray noted that President Bush recognizes that different countries cannot all meet national commitments in the same way. The U.S. has a demonstrated track record at developing clean energy technologies to solve problems. She also noted that the U.S. supports an Australian proposal for a discussion at September's APEC meeting on climate change. GOI Points -------------- ¶3. (SBU) At the meeting with Ministry of Forestry (MOF) and Ministry of Environment (MOE) officials, Dr. Rusli noted that the MOF is very interested in carbon markets as a tool for forest conservation. Agus Purnomo from MOE commented that financial incentives in the carbon market to conserve Indonesia's forests are currently too low, at roughly $3 per hectare, and that US leadership on this issue is necessary leading up to COP-13. He suggested that it would be more pragmatic for the U.S. and Indonesia to work together on pilot activities on this front before December to show that such instruments are workable, rather than getting bogged down in scientific and technical details about how to monitor Indonesia's forests and carbon emissions. He stated that MOF and MOE are working on this issue and may have some proposals to offer by October. At a working dinner, McMurray recommended that COP-13 organizers look for issues that are ripe for agreement such as forest conservation. Dr. Emil Salim said that most countries are in the shadow of the U.S. in terms of wealth, power and technology: the world will follow the U.S. lead. Dr. Emil Salim - Islands Sinking -------------- ¶4. (U) At the working dinner, Dr. Emil Salim, President Yudhoyono's chief environmental advisor, said that Indonesia could lose 2000 islands to rising seas by 2020. A representative of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) noted that many actions can be taken without major up front costs -- "no regret"-- mitigation and adaptation policies that Indonesia and the international community can pursue simultaneously. Indonesia has a massive resource in its peat swamp forests, which are being lost to draining and burning. Preserving these will help. The World Bank representative noted that the Bank is looking at how the costs of climate risks and "climate proofing" will be borne. HUME