I found it somewhat troubling after learning about Indonesian government’s focus on the forestry sector for its 2020 goal of 26% carbon emissions reduction. An article from Reuters indicates that Indonesia is the world’s No. 3 greenhouse gas emitter due to deforestation, peatland degradation and forest fires [article]. The pledge for cutting 26% carbon emissions by Indonesian government is then welcomed by international [article], although some say that it is pretty ambitious. The interesting part is what President SBY said:
“This target is entirely achievable because most of our emissions come from forest-related issues, such as forest fires and deforestation,”
An article in Kompas reports how Indonesian government plans to achieve the 26% carbon emission reduction by 2020. The article also further notes about potential 41% reduction assuming the presence of international supports.
These are pretty ambitious goals. But there is nothing wrong with these goals because we need to have that kind of goals in order for us to move forward; in order for us to make a big change for our next generations.
The simple yet critical challenge that has been the challenge in every case, how are we translating that goals into actions, that can actually bring all of us to the point where the goals of carbon emissions reduction is indeed achieved.
TransJakarta Busway, a Bus Rapit Transit (BRT) system, has been implemented in Jakarta, Indonesia, since February 2004. The media publicities largely covered the system as a new hope for an unending congestion mitigation in Jakarta. As many have learned, the BRT system has far more potentials than merely congestion mitigation. BRT has effectively and effiently reduced carbon emission from transportation sector, the second largest contributors to green house gasses emissions leading to the change of global environment. The fact that there were limited discussions about climate change when TransJakarta Busway was initiated is worth to study.
