As a direct impact of activities that convert forests to non forests, Indonesia still contributes a significant amount of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions to the atmosphere. After long period of time, GHG accumulates in the atmosphere and at certain point of time, the quantities can not be neutralized by nature anymore. This long process creates a gradual increase of the earth's surface temperature compare to the pre-industrial era circa 1850. McAlpin et al. (2018) reported that there has been increase in daily temperatures and at the same time daily rainfall is reduced in some parts of Borneo and it is believed correlates with forests lost in these regions. Similar situation happened in the watershed region in the southeastern part of Borneo where the frequency of daily air temperatures is reaching up to 31 degree Celcius and becomes more common. It is estimated to have something to do with the loss of 40-75% of tropical forests in the region since 1973. On the other hand, with forest loss only around 5-25%, the daily temperatures of the region in the northern and northwestern parts of Borneo tend to be more stable. Another intriguing finding that watershed areas that lose more than 15% of forest, experience a decrease in rainfall of more than 15%. It proved that climate change due to global warming, especially those that cause deforestation in Borneo, has increased daily temperatures and the frequency of extreme air temperatures and reduced rainfall.
Indonesia's largest contribution (including East Kalimantan province) of GHG emissions in 2010 came from the LULUCF (land use, land use change and forestry) sector, which was approximately 48%, followed by the energy sector circa 34%. From the https://ourworldindata.org/ webpage managed by the Global Change Data Lab, carbon emissions from land use change in Indonesia reached 1.03 billion tons of CO2 equivalent in 2021. This 2021 annual emission is 37% higher compared to emissions in 2000. In addition, anthropogenic disasters such as forest and land fires contribute enormous GHG emissions to the atmosphere. It is said that forest and land fires occurred in Sumatra and Kalimantan in 2015 was the worst fire catastrophic event causing air pollution that spread across countries. Data from the National Disaster Management Agency (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana or BNPB) revealed that around 60% of Indonesia’s teritory are prone to natural disasters.
Furthermore, BNPB shows that the trend of natural disaster events increases by years. The 2020 BNPB report states that natural disasters in Indonesia are dominated by floods (36%), storms or tornadoes (30%), landslides (19%) and forest & land fires (12%). A smaller percentage of disasters that should also be considered are earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tidal waves/abrasion including long droughts (Maulana, 2021).
Almost all nations are now participating in the global efforts to halt the climate change effects including Indonesia. Like many other countries, the Government of Indonesia (GoI) has targeted to reduce GHG emissions by 31.89% (business as usual) or 43.20% (with international support) by 2030. In order to reach this target (which is then referred to as Indonesia's Nationally Determined Contribution or NDC), GoI has issued several laws and regulations, including Presidential Regulation Number 98/2021 concerning the Implementation of Carbon Economic Value for the Achievement of Nationally Determined Contribution Targets and Control of Greenhouse Gas Emissions for National Development. Specific to forestry sector, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) has issued regulation Number 21/2022 concerning The Implementation of Carbon Economic Value.
Following this commitment, the GoI may access to various funding schemes from international community intended to support climate change mitigation and adaptation activities. One of the offered scheme for climate change mitigation project in tropical developing countries is REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, Role of Conservation, Sustainable Management of Forests and Enchancement of Forest Carbon Stocks in Developing Countries). Government of Indonesia through the MoEF commits to implement REDD+ at national and subnational level as strategy to achieve its NDC’s. In late 2021, the MoEF and East Kalimantan Provincial Government signed a formal agreement to implement emission reduction program (ERP) from deforestation and forest degradation for period 2019-2024. As a results, World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility – Carbon Fund (FCPF-CF) will pay for verified emission reduction achieved by East Kalimantan.
Considering that the climate change mitigation and adaptation is momentous issue and the benefits from climate policies may help Indonesia achieves its low carbon development strategy, the Faculty of Forestry Mulawarman University (FoF Unmul) is eager to host a symposium with special theme “Forest and Environment Future Challenges and Opportunities on Climate Policies and Benefits”. The symposium is called ISTFES which stands for The International Symposium on Tropical Forestry and Environmental Sciences. This year marks as the third symposium since the first one held in Samarinda in 2018. This year symposium will be held in Balikpapan and encompasses plenary and parallel sessions, as well as one day field trip. The symposium will bring together experts and researchers from various academic institutions, as well as professionals who works in Forestry and Environment fields, to present and discuss their latest finding from their oustanding research which will be divided into several topics :
- Commercialization Forest Products/Bioprospecting
- Biomass Conversion and Renewable Energy
- Silviculture and ecosystem restoration
- Forest Conservation and Wildlife Ecology
- Forest Policy and Climate Economic
- People - Forest and Environment
- Multi Business Forestry
- Urban Forestry and Forest Information System
- Blue Carbon