INDONESIA'S TOP COP-13 PLAYERS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 003258 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR G, OES, EAP, INR/B NSC FOR CEQ CONNAUGHTON, VAN DYKE E.O. 12598: N/A TAGS: SENV KGHG ECON PREL PINR ID SUBJECT: INDONESIA'S TOP COP-13 PLAYERS REF: STATE 150200 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: During the 13th UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP-13) meeting this December, the Government of Indonesia will push for carbon-market funding mechanisms for avoided deforestation; support of the Coral Triangle Initiative; and multilateral as well as bilateral funding arrangements for climate change adaptation and technology transfer. It will also use the opportunity to highlight Bali as the location of choice for major international conferences. Several members of the GOI will be key players, leveraging Indonesia's status as host to advance their agenda and set the tone of the meeting. This cable summarizes their priorities for COP-13. End Summary. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) has placed climate change at the top of his Government's agenda. President SBY has repeatedly emphasized (including to President Bush) his personal interest in the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), and expressed his expectation that forestry issues and avoided deforestation will be integral to any post-2012 framework. His cabinet has identified the following as its top climate change priorities: -- Introducing carbon-market funding mechanisms for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD); -- Building support for the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI); and -- Exploring technology transfer opportunities (including trade, investment, and multilateral funding) between developed and developing countries. In addition to the climate change agenda, President SBY wants to showcase Bali as a safe and secure choice for major international conferences. President of COP-13: Minister of Environment Rachmat Witoelar -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Rachmat Witoelar is State Minister of Environment and will serve as President of COP-13. Witoelar has emphasized that the most important COP-13 outcome is a foundation for a post-Kyoto framework that gives equal weight to adaptation and mitigation, and that focuses more on deforestation -- an Indonesian priority. Witoelar has welcomed U.S. engagement on climate change, and wants to ensure that the post-2012 framework involves both developed and developing countries. Like his colleague, Dr. Emil Salim (see para 5), Witoelar is keen for developed countries to continue (and even deepen) their commitments to binding reductions in carbon emissions, not least to ensure a larger REDD market. ¶4. (SBU) Witoelar is also eager to see progress on financing for technology transfer, an area that the GOI sees as vital for Indonesia's adaptation and mitigation efforts. Consequently, he is very interested in the clean technology-financing instrument proposed by President Bush. Witoelar's Ministry has developed a Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation National Action Plan. It hopes that the final draft will receive GOI interagency approval during the coming week, in time for a presidential decree on it during COP-13. Head of Indonesian Delegation: Dr. Emil Salim -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Dr. Emil Salim is the head of the Indonesian delegation to COP-13. Salim emphasizes that negotiations should focus on a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, and wants developed countries to deepen their commitments to binding reductions in carbon emissions. However, he has also emphasized that he will seek concrete "win-win" solutions during the conference because, in his words, the U.S can "make or break" the conference by its participation. Both he and Witoelar considered the U.S. position during the October Bogor JAKARTA 00003258 002 OF 003 pre-COP ministerial meeting positive and constructive (reftel),and he hopes the same U.S. attitude at Bali will help make COP-13 a success. ¶6. (SBU) Besides urging support for an Indonesian REDD pilot initiative, Salim is also pushing for concrete proposals on funding mechanisms for adaptation and technology transfer -- areas where he sees more room for consensus and U.S. involvement. This reflects Salim's view that developed countries have an obligation to help developing countries with adaptation and access to clean technology. He and his colleagues have expressed interest in learning more about what U.S. state and local governments are doing to combat climate change. They will likely seek meetings with congressional delegation members and other U.S. leaders during COP-13. Minister of Forestry: Malam Sambat Kaban -------------- ¶7. (SBU) The Ministry of Forestry (Dephut) will emphasize the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) initiative, on which it has been focusing its efforts. Dephut will hold parallel events during COP-13 to discuss REDD -- the main thrust of which is to use carbon market mechanisms to create positive incentives to reduce deforestation and preserve Indonesia's remaining forests. Minister M.S. Kaban, however, has also emphasized protecting and nurturing Indonesia's timber and logging industry. This highlights the tension between environmental protection and economic growth that the GOI will use to urge developed countries to be more generous with financial incentives to poorer countries and make more emissions cuts. ¶8. (SBU) Still, many environmentalists question Indonesia's will and capacity to enforce a REDD program by cracking down on powerful timber interests, and Kaban himself has come under increasing scrutiny from the police and public for his unhelpful intervention in high profile illegal logging cases. As a result, he may have a low profile at COP-13, allowing cabinet colleagues and technical subordinates (such as Director General for Forest Research and Development Wahyudi Wardoyo, who is the Dephut lead on REDD) to promote inclusion of deforestation and a carbon-market funding mechanism for avoided deforestation. Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries: Freddy Numberi -------------- --- ¶9. (SBU) The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries has the GOI lead on the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI),which President SBY has made a personal priority. Minister Freddy Numberi, the only native Papuan currently in the Cabinet, has appointed Head of Marine and Fisheries Research Agency Dr. Indroyono Soesilo to serve as the GOI point of contact for the CTI. The GOI calls the Coral Triangle area -- including vast tracts in Numberi's native Papua -- the marine equivalent of the Amazon and Congo basins, with the highest levels of coral diversity and richest marine life in the world. ¶10. (SBU) During the CTI side event in Bali, the Ministry will seek agreement on next steps of cooperation between CTI countries, and hope for concrete commitments of financial assistance from Australia and the U.S. for those programs. Numberi and his subordinates will be wary of the REDD initiative monopolizing available financial incentives from donor countries, and will seek to keep CTI in the world's spotlight during COP-13, hoping that outstanding technical and methodological questions surrounding REDD will work in favor of this marine conservation effort. Minister of Foreign Affairs: N. Hassan Wirayuda -------------- -------------- ¶11. (SBU) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will serve as co-chair of COP-13 in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, and Minister Wirayuda will be part of the Indonesian delegation, under the JAKARTA 00003258 003 OF 003 leadership of Dr. Emil Salim. We expect him to play a mediating and advisory role, helping his GOI team members explore multilateral approaches and solutions that will be palatable to the U.S. and other countries with opposing views. Wirayuda's subordinates say the GOI delegation will make a strong effort to reach agreement on multilateral funding mechanisms for adaptation and mitigation, including technology transfer (see para 14 for more on multilateral funds). Minister of Trade: Dr. Mari Pangestu -------------- ¶12. (SBU) Dr. Mari Elka Pangestu is a multilateralist and reformer by temperament, and pragmatic in practice. She will host a high-level dialogue on trade and climate change issues during COP-13, where Ministers of Trade will focus specifically on ways that trade rules may contribute to climate change policy. Pangestu expects the dialogue to reach consensus and provide recommendations on how to address the links between trade, climate change and sustainable development, with a likely emphasis on the responsibilities of developed countries. ¶13. (SBU) While generally preferring consensus building to confrontation, Pangestu has been outspoken on the obligations she believes advanced nations have toward developing countries. Despite this, she and Finance Minister Mulyani (see below) -- also a reformer -- are likely to be two of the strongest proponents of market-friendly approaches to climate change adaptation and mitigation, including through the full range of trade, investment, fiscal and regulatory policy options. Minister of Finance: Sri Mulyani Indrawati -------------- ¶14. (U) Sri Mulyani Indrawati is convening the first parallel high-level meeting for Finance Ministers on climate change issues during COP-13. Minister Mulyani will focus on the consequences of climate change on the global economy, how domestic financial policies can address climate change issues, common international objectives, and identifying next steps for the Finance Ministers. The plan is for the Finance Ministers to discuss ideas and present an agreed statement at the COP-13 plenary on December 14. Mulyani has stated that climate change is also a development, economic and investment problem, and that it is time for Finance Ministers to integrate climate change issues into policy and financial planning. ¶15. (SBU) Mulyani and her Ministry are ready to support climate change mitigation and adaptation through the full range of fiscal and regulatory policy tools (taxes, investment policy, procurement and other expenditure policies, etc.) at their disposal. The Finance Ministry is in the process of designing of a macro level "low carbon growth strategy" for Indonesia. Mulyani is also reportedly pressing the World Bank to launch its proposed Indonesia-specific "ICARUS" multi-donor trust fund for climate change mitigation and adaptation during COP-13, but this is not yet decided. She would be likely to support a similar multi-donor or multilateral fund for technology transfer. HUME