RI to apply for UN fund to help local farmers

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 04/21/2010 9:03 AM

Indonesia is eyeing an international fund to help local farmers adapt to climate change as the UN issued its first call for climate change-prone countries to apply for the adaptation fund.

The government said Indonesia would apply for the adaptation fund to help local farmers and people living in coastal areas who were also vulnerable to rising sea levels to deal with climate change.

The National Council on Climate Change (DNPI) said the grant would be used to improve weather predictions and create new varieties of crops resistant to extreme climate changes.

“We are drafting a proposal with concrete programs to apply for the fund,” Armi Susandi, the DNPI deputy chairman of the adaptation working group, said.

The adaptation fund, a self-standing fund established under the Kyoto Protocol, was derived from a 2 percent share of proceeds from carbon trading in developing countries.

The World Bank serves as trustee for the fund.

Developing countries can apply for small-sized projects worth up to US$1 million and regular projects with a total grant of more than $1 million.

The final say on the countries eligible to receive the grant is the fund’s executive board.

“We are making history by granting funds to finance concrete adaptation projects and programs in developing countries, which are based on their national priorities, and may be financed through the ground-breaking direct access modality,” Farrukh Iqbal Khan, the chairman of the Adaptation Fund Board, said in a statement when launching the call for proposals last week.

“We expect to have funds of $400 million available by 2012, which means the Adaptation Fund does not have the resources to fully match the enormous adaptation needs of developing countries, but it is an important step forward.”

Developing countries have repeatedly called on developed nations to provide money for the fund that could be used by developing countries to adapt to climate change.

The head of adaptation at the Environment Ministry, Dadang Hilman, said his office was unaware of the announcement by the UN.

“We will check on it. We also want to crosscheck the countries eligible to apply for the fund,” he said.

Dadang added that any adaptation fund should be focused on tackling water resource problems, including for the agriculture sector.

The government has said that one of the sectors likely to be most affected by delayed rainfall and prolonged periods of drought was agriculture.

The delays in the rainy season caused longer dry spells in many areas across the country, leaving millions of people without water.

Shorter rainy seasons with heavier rainfall have also led to more floods and landslides.

The director of climate and energy at WWF Indonesia, Fitrian Ardiansyah, said that it was time for Indonesia to also play a role in determining the allocation of the adaptation fund.

He said that the management of the fund would also determine the survival of billions of people on the planet.

“Indonesia is vulnerable to the severe impacts of climate change as it still relies on natural resources such as the agriculture, fishery and tourism sectors,” he said.