Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07JAKARTA3258
2007-11-27 10:28:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Jakarta
Cable title:  

INDONESIA'S TOP COP-13 PLAYERS

Tags:  SENV KGHG ECON PREL PINR ID 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6486
PP RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #3258/01 3311028
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 271028Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7184
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 4528
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0557
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0201
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1643
RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON 2970
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0830
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 0070
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0551
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 1466
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 1340
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1063
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RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 2025
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 4309
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1185
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0749
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
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

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