Indonesia's COP26 deforestation pledges have been met with scepticism

Campaigners argue that now is the moment to act, pointing out that the Southeast Asian nation has failed to deliver on prior forest promises.

As the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow enters its second and final week, a vow by more than 100 countries to halt deforestation by 2030 has received worldwide praise.

The agreement's signatories include Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Russia, and Indonesia, who together account for 85 percent of the world's forests. It also includes a guarantee of $19 billion in financial aid.

While the summit's host, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has described the deal as "extraordinary," not everyone is overjoyed.

"The initial pledge to limit deforestation is positive in our opinion," Uli Arta Siagian, a forestry and plantations activist at WALHI (the Indonesian Forum for the Environment), told Al Jazeera.

“The issue is that this pledge runs counter to what Indonesian government officials are doing.”

Forests cover around 920,000 square kilometres (355,214 square miles) over the Southeast Asian archipelago and have long been threatened by illicit logging and land removal, particularly for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations.
According to Global Forest Watch, almost 10% of main forest cover has been lost since 2001.

Critics claim that despite promising to safeguard the woods, officials have softened down domestic legislation and failed to take action against anyone discovered to be contributing to deforestation.

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo, often known as Jokowi, declared last week at COP26 that his country, one of the world's most biodiverse and resource-rich countries, is "dedicated to conserving... key carbon sinks and our natural capital for future generations."

The comments, according to Kiki Taufik, global head of Greenpeace Southeast Asia's Indonesian forests campaign, are "nothing new and not ambitious."

Taufik points out that Indonesia was one of the original signatories to the United Nations Climate Summit's New York Declaration on Forests, which committed Indonesia and other signatories to "reduce natural forest loss in half by 2020, and try to halt it by 2030."

Consumer goods businesses have also pledged to eliminate deforestation from the production of agricultural commodities like palm oil, soy, paper, and cattle products by 2020.

Taufik, on the other hand, points out that, despite its commitment to forest protection, Indonesia has fallen short of its goals.

A report released ahead of COP26 by Greenpeace in collaboration with environmental mapping experts TheTreeMap found that a fifth of the country's oil palm plantations were located in areas such as critical watersheds, national parks, and conservation areas designated as 'national forest estate,' where such activity is prohibited.
The world's largest exporter of palm oil, which is used in everything from detergents to chocolate, is Indonesia.

Taufik stated in a statement that "firm restrictions are needed to properly safeguard environment," accusing nations of organising "another talking shop about deforestation at COP26."

Forests that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere have been highlighted as critical to keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) and addressing climate change.

Meanwhile, as trees are cut to make way for large single-crop plantations, deforestation not only contributes to CO2 emissions but also causes severe floods and fires, as well as the extinction of flora and animals, including endangered tigers and orangutans.