Video | Can REDD+ Save Indonesia's Forests?

Indonesia is a prominent test case in global efforts to reduce tropical deforestation—a necessary component in the global effort to avert runaway climate change. As part of the global climate negotiations, rich countries have agreed in principle to provide financial incentives for forest countries to slow deforestation under a program known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). Indonesia, meanwhile, has made better forest and land management a keystone of its development planning, and is putting in place the institutional arrangements to implement its ambitious deforestation goals.

What institutional hurdles has Indonesia overcome in the effort to prepare for REDD+? What remains to be done? Will the US and other rich countries step forward as expected to support Indonesia's efforts to reduce deforestation? Most importantly: can REDD+ save Indonesia's forests? This partnership event from the Center for Global Development and Climate Advisers is an opportunity to explore these important questions by hearing directly from the top Indonesian officials leading efforts to prepare for REDD+.

His Excellency Mr. Heru Prasetyo, head of the Indonesian National REDD+ Agency, will describe Indonesia's vision for curbing deforestation rates and transitioning to a more sustainable economic development model. Panel discussants will include Mina Setra, a senior official with the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), who will describe the complex interaction between international efforts and indigenous peoples' traditional property rights; and CGD senior fellow Frances Seymour, former director general of the Center for International Forestry Research, an international organization headquartered in Indonesia.