Exploring Nature-based Solution (NbS) to Support Green Recovery in Indonesia

RDI Op-Ed, No. 2 (DCR) 20210608

Summary

COVID-19 highlights the vulnerability of countries and global systems to signifi-

cant shocks, as it curbs on the economy and society worldwide. Globally, we are experi-encing mass layoffs, with as many as 1.6 bil-lion workers, or nearly half the world’s work-force, at risk of losing their livelihoods (WWF & International Labour Organization, 2020). In Indonesia, the open unemployment rate has increased to its highest level since 2011, with around 2.67 million people lost their jobs while 1.7 million people were furloughed (Badan Pusat Statistik, 2020). At the same time, the environmental crises that preceded the pandemic have not been overcome.

However, recovery from COVID-19 can be a momentum to restart the system and estab-lish one that is capable of achieving econom-ic, social, and environmental benefits at the same time. Economic growth mustn’t sacri-fice the natural environment because human health and well-being will suffer as a result (World Agroforestry, 2020). Production and consumption activities such as deforestation, unsustainable agricultural and development practices, and the expansion of human set-tlements have led to a significant decline in natural ecosystems worldwide (World Agro-forestry, 2020). This impacts the acceleration of climate change, in which forests and natu-ral landscapes that have a function to absorb carbon are decreasing (FAO & UNEP, 2020).

Therefore, the recovery efforts must address the root causes of the pandemic, namely un-sustainable economic development, climate change, and a collective disregard for the nat-ural environment, to build back better and stronger (World Vision, 2020). Gradually, it will bring an opportunity to develop public and private policies to address the current climate change crisis and foster the transition to a green economy simultaneously. A green recovery can be the solution to help commu-nities recover from the immediate impacts of the pandemic and longer-term social, envi-ronmental, and economic resilience to future shocks and stresses, which means that it will simultaneously support efforts for climate change adaptation. The green recovery mea-sures identify that future crises cannot be mitigated unless we address the ecological consequences and inequality at all levels.

WWF & International Labour Organization (2020) introduced several criteria for recovery packages to be sustainable, including improv-ing human well-being without harming nature and adopting multi-level and cross-sectoral approaches. It is then agreed that recovery packages that focus on synergies between de-velopment, climate, and nature are more like-ly to increase national well-being. A study by Zachariadis et al. (2021) has proven that aside from being unsustainable, a “business-as-usu-al” stimulus package is more ineffective than

Opinion Page

Exploring Nature-based Solution| 1RDI Op-Ed, No. 2

Covid-19 heightens the already apparent socio-economic problems worldwide, as it affects people’s liveli-hoods by threatening well-being and halting economic activities. Along with the need to tackle the problems, there is a growing urgency to consider the pre-existing environmental crisis. A green recovery is vitally im-portant to ensure that both crises are being addressed, and Nature-based Solutions (NbS) can support the recovery approaches by providing multi-benefits.

a greener package to generate activity and employment over the short term. As a matter of fact, several green interventions can cre-ate twice as many jobs per million Euros in-vested than a business-as-usual package that supports demand without sectoral targeting (Zachariadis et al., 2021).

To achieve green, just, and transformative recovery, Green Economy Coalition (2020) highlighted the importance of recognizing and valuing the role of nature in reducing risks. This importance is due to our societies and economies being dependent on nature and highly vulnerable to its accelerating decline. World Vision (2020) also mentioned a num-ber of essential elements of a green recovery, which include employing nature-based solu-tions to realize multiple benefits at the same time (see figure below).

Considering the principles of green recovery above, it is known that nature plays an im-portant role in accomplishing green recov-ery. Solutions that are inspired by nature, or Nature-based Solutions (NbS), provide an opportunity to establish COVID-19 recov-ery initiatives that focus on socio-economic aspects and ensure environmental ecosys-tems are still intact. Generally, one of the main goals of NbS is to incorporate nature in the efforts of improving human quality of life. Greening cities, which is a part of NbS, can make new investors, residents, and visi-tors more attracted to the areas (Faivre et al., 2017) while creating new green jobs in vari-

Despite the urgency of shifting to the green agenda, observations made on countries in Southeast Asia suggest that a green recovery is unlikely to happen. According to Sembiring (2020), a strong focus on economic growth after the pandemic may cause the progress of the green agenda in the region to remain slow and even get weakened. For example, Presi-dent Joko Widodo stated that the main focus of Indonesia’s recovery plan revolves around achieving economic needs by reducing de-pendence on imported goods and strength-ening domestic capacity that includes health, food, material processing, and energy (Kom-pas, 2020). In the energy sector, the recovery plan offers a commitment to increase biodies-el production, thereby potentially reducing emissions from fuel use. However, increasing the use of palm oil requires a change in land use, resulting in more carbon emissions.

Another governmental initiative that raises a similar concern is creating food estates in Central Kalimantan and North Sumatra Prov-inces over an area that was previously part of the government’s Peatland Development Project (Parama, 2020). As peatland resto-ration is critical in mitigating emissions from land-use change, the food estate program signals Indonesia’s compromising its climate commitments for food security reasons. Fur-thermore, the passage of the Omnibus Law of Job Creation and a Mining Law weakens the already weak environmental safeguards (Cli-mate Transparency, 2020). The lack of focus on the green agenda in Indonesia’s recovery plan indicates that a green recovery is un-

RDI Op-Ed, No. 2

ous sectors (WWF and International Labour Organization, 2020). A wide range of employ-ment from entry-level to higher-level employ-ment is generated from nature-based activ-ities such as afforestation, agroforestry, the creation of green spaces, and management of protected parks and areas (Raymond et al., 2017). A well-known example is the largest restoration project in Europe, Emscher Land-scape park in Germany, which has generated an estimated 85,892 jobs in almost 20 years (WWF and International Labour Organiza-tion, 2020).

Figure: Essential Elements of a Green RecoverySource: World Vision, (2020)

Exploring Nature-based Solution | 2

RDI Op-Ed, No. 2

likely, though fuel switching and low-carbon transition will continue (Sembiring, 2020).However, Indonesia has shown several ef-forts to support sustainable recovery. In September 2020, Indonesia participated in creating an information hub about policies, measures, and actions on climate change and environmental protection in the context of COVID-19 recovery. The Ministry of the En-vironment Japan initiated this project with support from the UNFCCC and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). This can be an opportunity to evaluate the ef-forts that have been made so far—or can be referred to as a tagging process—and find out what needs to be improved in the future.

Other than that, recent figures from Global Forest Watch show that for the fourth straight year in Indonesia, the headline deforestation rate has dropped, based on the World Re-sources Institute’s satellite monitoring sys-tem. Official statistics from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry also show a defor-estation rate of 115,000 hectares for 2019-2020, which is the lowest reported since the last two decades. As a result, Indonesia is well placed to benefit from the increasingly increasing interest in and availability of in-ternational blended carbon finance, including the possible selling of carbon credits on a ju-risdictional scale (Blake, 2021). These could be a game-changer not only for Indonesia’s environment but also for achieving a sustain-

Regarding NbS implementation, research about the concept is still limited. However, the government has launched programs that can be categorized as NbS, although not ex-plicitly. For example, the Bandung City gov-ernment has implemented a number of disas-ter management strategies that are inspired by nature, such as the Gerakan Sejuta Biopori (A Million Biopores), restoration of water-sheds, and river normalization (Sagala et al., 2021). Later, these programs need to be re-viewed to ensure alignment with NbS prin-ciples. Additionally, mainstreaming NbS into planning documents is important so that ef-forts to tackle disasters, climate change, and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pan-demic can adopt the multi-benefits generated by NbS.In conclusion, economic recovery from COVID-19 is an opportunity to both tackle the climate crisis and build higher societal resilience through nature. NbS can support the opportunity with synergistic activities, as they are creating jobs while also enhancing resilience within communities that are hard-hit by both the pandemic and climate impacts. Although the government seems to have not prioritized the green agenda, there are op-portunities to integrate measures to address the environmental and climate change issues into the upcoming recovery plan.

able green post-COVID-19 economic recov-ery.

Exploring Nature-based Solution | 3

Further Reading

• Badan Pusat Statistik. (2020). Keadaan Pekerja di Indonesia Februari 2020. https://www.bps.go.id/publication/2020/06/19/43f6d15bcc31f4170a89e571/keadaan-pekerja-di-in-donesia-februari-2020.html

• Blake, R. (2021, April 2). Indonesia leads the world on reducing deforestation. The Jakarta Post. https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2021/04/02/indone-sia-leads-the-world-on-reducing-deforestation.html

• Climate Transparency. (2020). The Climate Transparency Report 2020. https://www.climate-transparency.org/g20-climate-performance/the-climate-transparency-re-port-2020

• Faivre, N., Fritz, M., Freitas, T., de Boissezon, B., & Vandewoestijne, S. (2017). Nature-Based Solutions in the EU: Innovating with nature to address social, economic and environmen-tal challenges. Environmental Research, 159, 509–518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.en-vres.2017.08.032

• FAO & UNEP. (2020). The State of the World’s Forests 2020. Forests, biodiversity and peo-ple. http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca8642en

• Green Economy Coalition. (2020). COVID-19: Ten Priority Options for a Just, Green & Transformative Recovery. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/PIGE-COVID-10PriorityOptionsforaJustGreenTransformativeRecovery.pdf

• International Labour Organization. (2020, June). COVID-19 and the World of Work. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/---emp_ent/documents/publica-tion/wcms_751217.pdf

• Kompas. (2020). Naskah Lengkap Pidato Kenegaraan Presiden Jokowi 2020. JEO Kompas. https://jeo.kompas.com/naskah-lengkap-pidato-kenegaraan-presiden-jokowi-2020

Resilience Development Initiative (RDI) is an Indonesian think tank that focuses and contributes to the body of knowledge on sustainable development and resilient studies.Jl. Imperial II No. 52, Dago Asri, Dago, Kota Bandung 40135Call us: +62 22 253 6574Email: rdi@rdi.or.idWebsite: www.rdi.or.id

Author

• Annisa Nisitha Nindyarini Gadjah Mada University • Supervised by: Danang Azhari (RDI)

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this op-ed are those of the author or authors of the paper. They do not necessarily represent the views of RDI or its editorial committee.

Further Reading

Resilience Development Initiative (RDI) is an Indonesian think tank that focuses and contributes to the body of knowledge on sustainable development and resilient studies.Jl. Imperial II No. 52, Dago Asri, Dago, Kota Bandung 40135Call us: +62 22 253 6574Email: rdi@rdi.or.idWebsite: www.rdi.or.id

• Parama, M. (2020, June 11). Government to develop 165,000 hectares land in Central Kalimantan for food-estate program. The Jakarta Post. https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/06/11/government-to-develop-165000-hectares-land-in-central-ka-limantan-for-food-estate-program.html

• Raymond, C. M., Berry, P., Breil, M., Nita, M. R., Kabisch, N., de Bel, M., Enzi, V., Frantz-eskaki, N., Geneletti, D., Cardinaletti, M., Lovinger, L., Basnou, C., Monteiro, A., Robrecht, H., Sgrigna, G., Munari, L. and Calfapietra, C. (2017). An Impact Evaluation Framework to Support Planning and Evaluation of Nature-based Solutions Projects. Eklipse. http://www.eklipse-mechanism.eu/apps/Eklipse_data/website/EKLIPSE_Report1-NBS_FI-NAL_Complete-08022017_LowRes_4Web.pdf

• Sagala, S., Azhari, D., Pranindita, N., Widhastri, A., Kanai, J. M., & Lechner, A. (2021). Urban Hydro-meteorological Disaster Risk Reduction with Nature Based Solutions (No. 7). Resilience Development Initiative. https://www.rdi.or.id/storage/files/policy_brief/1614859542-policy-briefs-7-urban-hydrometeorological-disaster-risk-reduc-tion-with-nature-based-solutions-nbs-min.pdf

• Sembiring, M. (2020). Green Recovery in Post-COVID-19 Southeast Asia? Rajaratnam School of International Studies. http://hdl.handle.net/11540/12585

• World Agroforestry. (2020, April 22). A post-Covid19 future requires foresight to build back planetary health. https://www.worldagroforestry.org/blog/2020/04/22/post-covid19-future-requires-foresight-build-back-planetary-health?mc_cid=af63e-8f6ad&mc_eid=5cd1d733a7

• World Vision. (2020, December). COVID-19 & Green Recovery. https://www.wvi.org/sites/default/files/2020-11/COVID-19_%26_GreenRecovery_Policy%20Brief_v3a_0.pdf

• WWF & ILO. (2020, October). Nature Hires: How Nature-based Solutions can power a green jobs recovery. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/docu-ments/publication/wcms_757823.pdf

• Zachariadis, T., Giannakis, E., Taliotis, C., Karmellos, M., Fylaktos, N., Howells, M., Blyth, W., and Hallegatte, S. (2021). “Building Back Better” in Practice: A Science-Policy Frame-work for a Green Economic Recovery after COVID-19. World Bank. https://openknowl-edge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/35101