THE HABIBIE CENTER DISCUSSION REPORT. No. 02/September 2014 TALKING ASEAN. The Climate Change Issues: Ensuring ASEAN s Environmental Sustainability

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1 THE HABIBIE CENTER DISCUSSION REPORT No. 02/September 2014 TALKING ASEAN The Climate Change Issues: Ensuring ASEAN s Environmental Sustainability The Habibie Center Building, Jakarta 29 September 2014

2 INTRODUCTION JAKARTA On Monday, 29 September 2014, The Habibie Center held a Talking ASEAN dialogue entitled The Climate Change Issues: Ensuring the ASEAN s Environmental Sustainability at The Habibie Center building in Jakarta. This edition of Talking ASEAN featured Mr. J.S. George Lantu (Director of Directorate of ASEAN Functional Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Indonesia), Mr. Farhan Helmy (Manager of Indonesia Climate Change Center), Mr. Jamal M. Gawi (Chairperson, Board of Directors, Leuser International Foundation), and Mr. Bernadinus Steni (Member of HuMa Association/ Secretary of Climate Justice Programme Australia) as resource persons with Ms. Rahimah Abdulrahim (Executive Director of the Habibie Center). The objectives of this Talking ASEAN were to elaborate the perspective from various experts: (a) To identify the impact of climate change in ASEAN on various aspects such as poverty, economic growth, sustainable livelihood, health, energy, disaster management and also on the most vulnerable groups such as women and children; (b) To review ASEAN policies regarding the mitigation and adaptation actions in addressing climate change issues; (c) To elaborate ASEAN s contribution and participation at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; and (d) To suggest recommendations for ASEAN to be taken to addressing the climate change issue. This discussion report summarizes the key points of each speaker as well as the question and answer session that followed.

3 SPEAKERS PRESENTATION J.S. George Lantu Mr. J.S. George Lantu (front), Director of Directorate of ASEAN Functional Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Indonesia. The first resource person to speak at the discussion was Mr. J.S. George Lantu. He started his presentation by explaining that in the context of climate change issues, all ASEAN members-states are affected by the impact of climate change. Thus, ASEAN should examine the actions that have so far been done, particularly by Indonesia. He argued that Indonesia had succeeded in developing awareness and mutual understanding of the climate change discussion among the ASEAN member-states. It was pointed out that increasing awareness on climate change issues among the ASEAN member-states was the hardest task in ASEAN because each ASEAN member-states held different perspectives on climate change. He gave an example of the Philippines which he cited as working intensively in supporting ASEAN to tackle climate change issues. The Philippines encouraged a lot of related programs and projects to address climate change, such as conservation in farming and agricultural sectors, marine and coastal areas, as well as to the forestry sectors. Mr. George Lantu then gave further examples related to the obstacles in implementing action in ASEAN, highlighting challenges from technical cooperation, particularly on the issue of the forest fires in several regions in Indonesia such as in Riau and Borneo. At the end of the presentation, Mr. George Lantu concluded by encouraging the idea of comprehensiveness to tackle climate change. He pointed out that the government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and local people should work hand in hand if ASEAN really wanted to preserve the environment. Increasing awareness on climate change issues is one of the hardest task in ASEAN because each ASEAN member-states holds different perspectives on climate change. -J.S. George Lantu- 1

4 SPEAKERS PRESENTATION Bernadinus Steni Mr. Bernadinus Steni, Member of HuMa Association/ Secretary of Climate Justice Programme Australia. The second resource person to speak was Mr. Bernadinus Steni. In his presentations, he stated that in terms of ASEAN political commitment on climate change there should be three main issues. First was regarding the fundamental requirements needed by ASEAN to address climate change. Second was dealing with climate change based on the ASEAN pillars. Third, the possibility of working together on climate change issues in the region. In light of these three main issues raised by Mr. Bernadinus Steni, he proposed comparative measures on climate change issues between ASEAN and European Union (EU). Regarding to the first issue, Mr. Bernadinus Steni argued that ASEAN had no emission reduction target, compared to the European Union which has an emission target of about 20% - 30% by Besides, the comparison between the ASEAN and EU in terms of its member-states participation to reduce emission showed segmentation. On the one hand, participation of the EU members is strong and solid to form a strong position in climate change negotiation. While on the other hand, the ASEAN member-states participation is largely limited to regional discussion and has no strong alliance when it comes to the climate change negotiation table. Related to the second issue, Mr. Bernadinus Steni identified three actions that are valuable for concrete achievement of emission reductions in ASEAN. The first action is developing regional strategies to enhance capacity for adaptation, low carbon economy, and promoting public awareness to address the effects of climate change. Nevertheless, the status for this action has not been done. None of the adaptation document in ASEAN has been circulated to this point. The second action, according to Mr. Bernadinus Steni, is to accelerate the role of ASEAN Climate Change Initiative (ACCI). The third action is conducting regional policy and scientific studies to facilitate the implementation of the climate change convention and related convention, because of the fact that to now there were no policies in place. For the third issue raised by Mr. Bernadinus Steni, he pointed out the possibilities of cooperation, arguing that the EU model is the appropriate model for climate change issues in ASEAN. He argued that the EU model is competent to form common policy in tackling the climate change issues. Moreover, in terms of awareness and funding, the EU model has been the success model for which ASEAN should try to follow. Are the ASEAN Pillars enough to start dealing with climate change? -Bernadinus Steni- 2

5 SPEAKERS PRESENTATION Farhan Helmy The third resource person to speak was Mr. Farhan Helmy. He started his presentation with a question, Is it possible for ASEAN to have common position on climate change? Then he continued to explain the background to this question, relating it to the political-economy realities in ASEAN that was constructed by the dynamics found on the global and national level. The impacts of climate change have been responded in diverse ways due to different national circumstances found in ASEAN. For example, Singapore focuses on rising sea level rising, while Indonesia focus on mitigation of climate change, and the Philippines focus on adaptation of climate change. He added that at the global level, there was a lack of common and solid association within the UNFCCC framework, illustrated by the differentiation between the G77 position with China and Small Islands Development States (SIDS). Mr. Farhan Helmy also described the carbon dioxide (CO2) production in Southeast Asia that had been gradually increasing, particularly in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Nevertheless this was still relatively low compared to the world such as China, India, and the US. Diverse national circumstances in ASEAN might end up with different policy and commitment settings. -Farhan Helmy- Mr. Farhan Helmy, Manager of Indonesia Climate Change Center. Based on these political-economy realities, Mr. Farhan Helmy highlighted a lesson learned from Indonesia s experience in tackling the climate change issue from the perspective of emission reductions, which could affect the regional policies of ASEAN. Indonesia had targeted an effective low carbon development scenario, where Indonesia committed to reduce the Greenhouse Gases (GHG) by 26% to 41% in In achieving that target, Indonesia has also evolved a monitoring system for GHG governance. Mr. Farhan Helmy ended his presentation by addressing the likely scenarios towards and beyond 2015 in terms of the sustainable development agenda. He questioned whether ASEAN memberstates would stand on a common position on climate change issues or not. He argued that in order to build trust and commitment on the climate change issues in ASEAN, the regional organization required robust governance that linked national level agenda with the regional needs and conclude it with a common policy. To achieve these ambitious targets, the role of government, NGOs and local people was seen as key. 3

6 SPEAKERS PRESENTATION Jamal M. Gawi Mr. Jamal Gawi assessed that ASEAN had a commitment to addressing climate change issues, such as can be seen in the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Blueprint, agreements and leaders statement, and also within the ASEAN structure such as the ASEAN Secretariat s Environmental Division and working groups on environmental and climate change issues. Despite the commitments shown by ASEAN on climate change issues, Mr. Jamal Gawi argued that ASEAN needed several improvements. He stressed that ASEAN should support synergetic coordination between thematic sectors under the Environmental Sustainability Characteristics of ASCC Blueprint, as well as attract support from donors and projects under the same framework. Mr. Jamal M. Gawi, Chairperson, Board of Directors, Leuser International Foundation. The last resource person to speak was Mr. Jamal M. Gawi. He began his presentation by explaining the significance of ASEAN within the context of climate change. He described ASEAN as an important region politically and economically where 20% of biodiversity rest in the region, along with 30% of global coral reefs, 35% of global mangrove forests, 60% of tropical peat land, and 203 million hectares of forest cover. All these environmental richness in ASEAN can contribute significantly to tackling climate change. Yet, challenges and needs had emerged in ASEAN. Challenges such as the loss of biodiversity and coral reef were expected to reach 50% and 88% respectively in the next 30 years. Besides, deforestation has become a serious issue, especially in Indonesia. Therefore, ASEAN needed to have policies and institutions that encouraged capacity building on sustainable management, as well as technical support such as research and evaluation. Importantly, resource mobilization for alternative funding should also be formed by ASEAN. ASEAN is home to 20% of global biodiversity. The threat to climate change and biodiversity loss is extremely high. -Jamal M. Gawi- 4

7 Q&A SESSION One of the audience raising questions and giving comments during Q&A session. Comment no. 1 : How to increase public awareness on climate change? How to make the issues be mainstreamed in the public discourse? J.S. George Lantu We should realize that climate change is not a sexy issue, unless something real happens such as the Riau Haze or forest fires in Borneo. In fact, people do not care about the haze unless the impact of haze becomes massive such as reaching Singapore and Malaysia. People do not realize that the direct impact to people s lives is real. Moreover, in the context of ASEAN, the ASEAN member-states have a very big problem on their awareness, because it is sometimes overwhelmed by conflict of interests. Farhan Helmy Dialogues and forums such as Talking ASEAN is one of the main ways to mainstream the climate change issues into the public discourse. Nevertheless, the discussion also should encompass critical issues such as peat land management, trans-boundary haze pollution, and especially forest fires. The dialogue should also address directly to people s situation, such as the impact of climate change on the economy, food security, health, and even the future. Comment no. 2 : How can the climate change be related to community empowerment? Why are there are a lot of plans but less action from the Indonesian government? How is ASEAN responding to the impact of climate change on our energy security? Bernadinus Steni For the first question, government bureaucracy is contradicted by its plan. This causes a slow process in decision making. Related to the community empowerment, educating people is the most important thing. Nowadays, people within various community empowerment projects are to focused on the project itself because of the funding involved rather than think about longer-term goals. People think money is more important rather than climate change itself. 5

8 Q&A SESSION J.S. George Lantu Indicators to measure the impact of government project to tackle climate change issues are hard to be perceived. I agree with the comment that stated we should not over rely on governments. We should also be clear in acknowledging government achievements to tackle climate change, such as the Indonesian government effort just this month in ratifying the protocol on ASEAN Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution (AATHP). Ms. Rahimah Abdulrahim (left), Executive Director, The Habibie Center, moderates the Q&A session. Comment no. 3 : Politicians should be educated about the climate change because they are the ones in power and can make decisions. We should have a national debate on climate change. Besides, Indonesia s political system is controversial. It tries to neglect strategic link between environment and economy. Jamal M. Gawi We have to shift our paradigm that depends too much on politicians and governments. We should realize the role of NGOs as well as local people. For the question related to the linkages between climate change and energy security, ASEAN has a deep concern about it, as highlighted by the ASEAN Center for Energy in Jakarta. Bernadinus Steni We have to shift our paradigm that depends too much on politicians and governments. We should realize the role of NGOs as well as local people. For the question related to the linkages between climate change and energy security, ASEAN has a deep concern about it, as highlighted by the ASEAN Center for Energy in Jakarta. Comment No.4 : I underline the notion of having an ASEAN common position on climate change that in reality are totally different to each member states. For instance, Singapore perceives climate change issue in terms of sea level rising, the Philippines understands it as the marines and coastal area for adaptation to climate change, and Indonesia is more focused on mitigation. It can be confirmed the difficulty of an ASEAN common position on climate change because of these national interests and cross-cutting issue mingled within the process. Farhan Helmy I agree about the complexity of national interests and cross-cutting issues on climate change in ASEAN affects the regional organization s position. Therefore, an awareness about the shared interests is needed rather than focusing on the differences in our climate change perceptions. I think engaging people within the process is very important, particularly those who live in cities who maybe do not know enough about the impact. Jamal M. Gawi I would comment that there is an ASEAN Paradox. ASEAN always agree on some things but at the same time disagreed with some things. This ASEAN Paradox alone also becomes an issue in coordinating cooperation among ASEAN memberstates. Therefore, the ASEAN Secretariat should facilitate this kind of issue if the environmental cooperation is to be effective. 6

9 Q&A SESSION J.S. George Lantu I also agree with the comment that when it comes to the general process in understanding climate change, ASEAN has convergences. But when it comes to specific policies, it becomes hard to achieve since ASEAN member-states have their own interests. For instance, it was hard for some ASEAN member-states to receive/accept criticism for their environmental situation, such as Indonesia. For example Indonesia sometimes take offence if a country like Lao PDR which is not affected by the impact of sea level - provides recommendations to Indonesia on that issue. Comment No. 5 : I would like to explain that Taiwan has been working on the emission reductions in order to participate in tackling climate change. Taiwan is also able to work and cooperate to tackle the issue in global cooperation. Nevertheless, there is an important question that should also be discussed. Is it important to include the discussion of climate change in global context if the process and impact directly happens at the national level? Bernadinus Steni I think it is still important, but we should realized that the process still relies too much on mitigation processes and things that are related to transfer of technology, etc. Therefore, in the regional context, the discussion should go beyond the mitigation process, particularly to the strategy related to adaptation. Importantly, ASEAN also lacks capacity to work together as a community in the region. ASEAN as community should share ideas to working on shared strategy related to adaptation. Comment no. 6 : At the national level, increasing the public awareness should always be the top priority. Moreover, Indonesia should have national institutions that will discuss and focus directly to increasing public awareness on politicians. Comment No. 7 : How can we reduce the proclivity among stakeholders that focus on international aid rather than the effectiveness of programs? Farhan Helmy The government has worked on several programs to address climate change, such as the target in emission reduction, or in the context of financing. The government has also developed schemes for joint cooperation as well as provided fiscal instruments to local government. However, it should be underlined that this kind of activity is not only the government s tasks, but the responsibility of all stakeholders. J.S. George Lantu We should be aware if we really want to involve politicians on the climate change issue, it may end up being politicized and become a political bargaining power. Besides, we have to give efforts to development and protection regarding the future energy program, such as those related nuclear energy project. Bernadinus Steni The Indonesian government has a lot of focus group within the parliament on the climate change issues. But the important case is related to the political prejudice about receiving international funding assistance for several climate change program which come from some members of parliament. The suspicions of parliament members also conclude that the international community is using the climate change issues to reduce Indonesia s economic growth. In national level, there are no institutions that directly dealing with climate change issues because it is included to environmental protection matters. --END-- 7

10 Talking ASEAN is a regular discussion held by The Habbie Center each month on a wide range of political-security, economic and sociocultural issues surrounding ASEAN.

11 PROJECT SUPERVISOR: Rahimah Abdulrahim (Executive Director) Hadi Kuntjara (Deputy Director for Operations) COORDINATOR: A. Ibrahim Almuttaqi RESEARCHERS: Steven Yohanes P. Fina Astriana Layout and Design by M. I. Qeis ASEAN Studies Program - The Habibie Center The Habibie Center Building Jl. Kemang Selatan No.98, Jakarta Tel: Fax: thc@habibiecenter.or.id

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