GOVT TO USE LOCAL AUDITORS TO VERIFY RIS CUTS

Adianto P. Simamora
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA

The government asserts that auditing emission cuts will not harm the countrys sovereignty as Indonesia willuse local auditors to verify the pledged targets.An expert from the Environment Ministry, Liana Brastasida, insisted the audit results would be in line with international guidelines as mandated by the United Nations.

""Verification of any emissions reductions would be carried out by local auditors,"" Liana told a press conference Thursday.""What we need [to answer] now is how to improve capacity of our verifiers.""The UN climate change body requires any emissions cuts to be measurable, reportable and verifiable (MRV) to ensure countries are serious in fighting climate change.The MRV issue caused some of the deepest divisions among rich and developing countries in last years climate talks in Copenhagen.

A number of developing countries disagreed with the MRV concept on fears that the presence of independent auditors to verify emissions cuts would breach their sovereignty.Rich nations who pledged to provide funds to help developing countries cut their emissions wanted any cuts to be accountable.Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta admitted he at first disagreed with the MRV scheme if the fund came out of Indonesias budget.

""But as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agreed [with it], I thought it was good for us and we are ready for it,"" he said.Indonesia has promised to slash emissions by 26 percent by 2020 with the a projected cost of Rp 83 trillion (US$8.99 billion).The government said if rich nations provide another Rp 168 trillion, Indonesia would cut a further 15 percent of emissions by 2020.

Gusti said his office was still drafting detailed plans on how to reduce emissions from the agriculture, energy, forestry, industry and transportation and waste sectors and peat land to meet the target ""We need three months to complete the detailed programs on how to meet the target,"" he said.He said the government was now drafting a presidential decree as a legal umbrella to regulate the pledged emissions cuts targets.