Since the early 1990s, Indonesia has seen significant changes in land use and forest cover. From a country primarily covered by forests, the estimated forest cover now decreases to about 50%. To date, large areas of Aceh province, North Sumatra, North Kalimantan province, and Papua and West Papua provinces are mostly forested. These forest areas have national significance if Indonesia wants to achieve its climate targets, they are significant for people living in forests, where they serve as a substantial source of water, food, income and medicine. Moreover, these forests have the world's most significant biodiversity, unique terrestrial wildlife and are considered the remaining 'lungs of the world'. Globally, the world relies on this vast forest that is conserved to achieve the ambitious climate goals outlined in the Paris Accord.

However, the forest in this area is highly threatened. There are signs that these provinces will now follow the same pattern of plantation-based development as elsewhere in the country, which has resulted in high deforestation and often brings little benefit to local communities.

For this purpose, the following "Green, Sustainable and Equitable Development for Intact Forest Provinces" meeting was held to enable multi-stakeholder discussions on the Government of Indonesia's vision of pro-poor green and sustainable development and provide employment and welfare improvements for the people of the Intact Forest Province , and how the private sector, civil society, and the international community can support this. The meeting will seek to achieve a shared vision for such developments in Indonesia.

The meeting was attended by representatives from companies, NGOs and governments such as Mr Dominggus Mandacan, the Governor of West Papua.

In this event, Sonny Mumbunan (Senior Economist of WRI Indonesia) will present Fiscal transfers & international climate funding opportunities for provinces that avoid deforestation, and Arief (Senior Manager of Climate & Forests of WRI Indonesia) will present the full Carbon Value in Tropical Forests in Indonesia. The Indonesian Ambassador to Norway will moderate the event.