Update: The presentation materials are available here and the pictures from the workshop can be accessed here.

What: A national, multi-stakeholder forum – attended by representatives of central and local governments, civil society organizations, research organizations and universities, private sector, and media – to accelerate action on nation-wide forest and landscape restoration (FLR).

When: April 19-20, 2016

Where: Sonokeling Room, Manggala Wanabakti (Ministry of Environment and Forestry), Jalan Gatot Subroto, Senayan, Jakarta 10270

Organizers: World Resources Institute Indonesia (WRI-Indonesia), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK), Peat Restoration Agency

Background:

The high rates of deforestation, forest degradation, land-use conversion, and fragmentation in Indonesia have not only led to a sharp reduction of ecosystem services and biodiversity, but also significantly increased the country’s total carbon emissions (Sari et al. 2007). The importance of maintaining forest cover and restoring the lost forest is increasingly being acknowledged by various stakeholders in Indonesia. For example, initiatives to improve land-use planning are increasingly done by governmental forestry departments in close collaboration with international conservation organizations and local NGOs, often within the framework of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). However, policies related to REDD+ mitigation and adaptation are often being developed by different stakeholders in isolation from each other, thereby overlooking FLR as a relevant strategy (Sayer and Barr 2012). Further, many economic, social, financial, institutional and policy enabling conditions needed for FLR are often missing in Indonesia, as evidenced by the limited success of some past restoration projects (Nawir et al. 2015).

Globally, World Resources Institute (WRI) and IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) are in partnership for mainstreaming and implementing FLR efforts. FLR is an integrated approach that seeks to ensure that forests, trees, and the functions that they provide are effectively restored, conserved, and employed on a landscape-scale to help secure ecological integrity and sustainable livelihoods for the future. WRI and IUCN also developed the Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM), a flexible and affordable framework which has been used in several African and Latin American countries to rapidly identify and analyze FLR potential in various landscapes.

Successful FLR and ROAM implementation will not only increase carbon sequestration and capacity to adapt to climate change through low-emission development strategies, but also create multiple other benefits, such as expanding habitats and migration corridors for biodiversity, enhancing food production, reducing soil erosion, and yielding clean water supplies. Further, FLR also helps combat poverty through the creation of rural jobs.

The application of the FLR concept in Indonesia has the potential to lead to more inclusive, comprehensive, effective, efficient, and sustainable restoration initiatives. The opportunities generated by FLR may serve as the basis for a better national land-use management and for generating national restoration commitments towards the Bonn Challenge, a global movement aimed at restoring 150 million hectares of the world’s degraded and deforested lands by 2020.

Objectives:

  • Galvanizing widespread support for FLR in Indonesia and clarifying Indonesia’s restoration goals and options
  • Discussing various approaches on FLR opportunities, including ROAM
  • Learning from previous restoration initiatives in Indonesia and identifying ways in which FLR can be successfully scaled-up, including priority next steps

Intended Outputs:

  • Increased commitment to restoration, with the goal of announcing a bolder restoration pledge by the end of 2016
  • A common understanding of FLR and ROAM among relevant stakeholders
  • Priorities and next steps for scaling up FLR in Indonesia identified, including the establishment of a national forum of FLR champions

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