The Site:
Post 2004 tsunami, socio-economic situation in Aceh Province, in general, has gradually recovered. Welfare of Aceh community has improved while poverty rate declines from 26,7% in 2007 to 23,5% in 2008. In addition, income per capita of communities has increased from IDR 4.89 million/year in 2003 to IDR 5.70 million/year in 2007 (excluding oil and gas sectors).
Agriculture sector remains to contribute to the biggest part of Bruto Regional Domestic Product in Aceh. Contribution from agricultural sector in the second quarter of 2009 was 29.60% from total of PDRB. In terms of employment opportunity, the agriculture sector remains the highest, which is 50.88% from the total manpower in Aceh.
On the other hand, deforestation and number of marginal lands in Aceh have also increased due to various reasons, including poor forestry and agriculture practice, and increasing number of grazing areas for livestock.
The Issues:
In 2007, the Government of Aceh launched Aceh Green Vision, which intended to attract investment and at the same time assure sustainable management of natural resources for the benefits of Aceh people. The concept was then presented to the President of Indonesia for the purpose of UNFCCC in Bali at the end of 2007. In addition to the moratorium of logging, some of the emerging benchmarks related to the vision are the establishment of managing Board for Leuser Ecosystem Area, Aceh Forestry and Environmental Program (AFEP), and the contractual agreement on implementation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Land Degradation (REDD) in Ulu Masen Forest that covers 750,000 hectare of land.
With forest that covers 60.22% of total area in Aceh (5,539,000 ha), this province has huge potential to deliver bundle of environmental services. Reliable and transparent payments for ecosystem services (PES) mechanisms are needed to capture both international and national/local demand for ecosystem services. Besides, the development of PES policies and mechanisms are believed to be in line with Aceh Green Vision and expected to contribute to the economic development of Aceh people in general. If effectively implemented, such mechanisms will also provide incentives for sustainable land management, and are critical to the achievement of the Aceh Green vision in a socially equitable, and environmentally sustainable, way.
The Rewards:
UNESCAP, together with WWF, LP3ES and ICRAF, have designed a model of PES mechanism in two watersheds in Aceh, Krueng Aceh and Krueng Peusangan. These two watersheds are in a very critical condition, yet still play a significant role as potential nature resources reserves for many parts in Aceh, in particular Banda Aceh and Lhoksemawe. Kreung Aceh is a place for Keuliling Reservoir and rubber plantation, which are important resources for two water companies of PDAM Tirta Daroy (Banda Aceh City) and PDAM Tirta Mountala (Aceh Besar District).
A number of preliminary studies have been carried out in Aceh including the identification of environmental service types and identification of service providers and beneficiaries.
Site Partners:
UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific)
WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature)
LP3ES (Lembaga Penelitian, Pendidikan dan Penerangan Ekonomi dan Sosial)
Contact:
Name: Ms Tisna Nando
Email: tisnando@gmail.com