Norway will not release more funds under a $1 billion aid package it pledged to help Indonesia curb deforestation and emissions - unless the Asian country establishes a pair of independent agencies that can oversee forest conservation efforts, according to officials by the European donor.
In August 2010, Norway disbursed the first tranche of $30 million under the aid package. According to Leif John Fosse, senior adviser for Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative, the first annual third-party review of the agreement “concluded that there was adequate delivery on most counts for the initial phase of the partnership,” Reuters reports.
“But [there are] important remaining issues including the setting up of an independent REDD+ [Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation] agency and an independent institution for monitoring emissions from forests,” he added. “The next payment will be made only after these are in place.”
Iman Santosa, a senior official at the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, said he expects those two agencies to be set up before the end of 2011.
“We are at the moment looking into the job description of the two bodies,” Santosa said.
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