VZCZCXRO6486
PP RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #3258/01 3311028
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 271028Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7184
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 4528
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0557
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0201
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1643
RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON 2970
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0830
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 0070
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0551
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 1466
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 1340
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1063
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 0269
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 2025
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 4309
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1185
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0749
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 003258 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR G, OES, EAP, INR/B 
NSC FOR CEQ CONNAUGHTON, VAN DYKE 
 
E.O. 12598: N/A 
TAGS: SENV KGHG ECON PREL PINR ID
SUBJECT: INDONESIA'S TOP COP-13 PLAYERS 
 
REF: STATE 150200 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  During the 13th UNFCCC Conference of Parties 
(COP-13) meeting this December, the Government of Indonesia will 
push for carbon-market funding mechanisms for avoided deforestation; 
support of the Coral Triangle Initiative; and multilateral as well 
as bilateral funding arrangements for climate change adaptation and 
technology transfer.  It will also use the opportunity to highlight 
Bali as the location of choice for major international conferences. 
Several members of the GOI will be key players, leveraging 
Indonesia's status as host to advance their agenda and set the tone 
of the meeting.  This cable summarizes their priorities for COP-13. 
End Summary. 
 
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) 
---------------------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) has 
placed climate change at the top of his Government's agenda. 
President SBY has repeatedly emphasized (including to President 
Bush) his personal interest in the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), 
and expressed his expectation that forestry issues and avoided 
deforestation will be integral to any post-2012 framework.  His 
cabinet has identified the following as its top climate change 
priorities: 
 
-- Introducing carbon-market funding mechanisms for reducing 
emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD); 
-- Building support for the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI); and 
-- Exploring technology transfer opportunities (including trade, 
investment, and multilateral funding) between developed and 
developing countries. 
 
In addition to the climate change agenda, President SBY wants to 
showcase Bali as a safe and secure choice for major international 
conferences. 
 
President of COP-13: Minister of Environment Rachmat Witoelar 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
¶3. (SBU) Rachmat Witoelar is State Minister of Environment and will 
serve as President of COP-13.  Witoelar has emphasized that the most 
important COP-13 outcome is a foundation for a post-Kyoto framework 
that gives equal weight to adaptation and mitigation, and that 
focuses more on deforestation -- an Indonesian priority.  Witoelar 
has welcomed U.S. engagement on climate change, and wants to ensure 
that the post-2012 framework involves both developed and developing 
countries.  Like his colleague, Dr. Emil Salim (see para 5), 
Witoelar is keen for developed countries to continue (and even 
deepen) their commitments to binding reductions in carbon emissions, 
not least to ensure a larger REDD market. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Witoelar is also eager to see progress on financing for 
technology transfer, an area that the GOI sees as vital for 
Indonesia's adaptation and mitigation efforts.  Consequently, he is 
very interested in the clean technology-financing instrument 
proposed by President Bush.  Witoelar's Ministry has developed a 
Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation National Action Plan.  It 
hopes that the final draft will receive GOI interagency approval 
during the coming week, in time for a presidential decree on it 
during COP-13. 
 
Head of Indonesian Delegation: Dr. Emil Salim 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶5. (SBU) Dr. Emil Salim is the head of the Indonesian delegation to 
COP-13.  Salim emphasizes that negotiations should focus on a 
replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, and wants developed countries to 
deepen their commitments to binding reductions in carbon emissions. 
However, he has also emphasized that he will seek concrete "win-win" 
solutions during the conference because, in his words, the U.S can 
"make or break" the conference by its participation.  Both he and 
Witoelar considered the U.S. position during the October Bogor 
 
JAKARTA 00003258  002 OF 003 
 
 
pre-COP ministerial meeting positive and constructive (reftel), and 
he hopes the same U.S. attitude at Bali will help make COP-13 a 
success. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Besides urging support for an Indonesian REDD pilot 
initiative, Salim is also pushing for concrete proposals on funding 
mechanisms for adaptation and technology transfer -- areas where he 
sees more room for consensus and U.S. involvement.  This reflects 
Salim's view that developed countries have an obligation to help 
developing countries with adaptation and access to clean technology. 
 He and his colleagues have expressed interest in learning more 
about what U.S. state and local governments are doing to combat 
climate change.  They will likely seek meetings with congressional 
delegation members and other U.S. leaders during COP-13. 
 
Minister of Forestry: Malam Sambat Kaban 
---------------------------------------- 
¶7. (SBU) The Ministry of Forestry (Dephut) will emphasize the 
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) 
initiative, on which it has been focusing its efforts.  Dephut will 
hold parallel events during COP-13 to discuss REDD -- the main 
thrust of which is to use carbon market mechanisms to create 
positive incentives to reduce deforestation and preserve Indonesia's 
remaining forests.  Minister M.S. Kaban, however, has also 
emphasized protecting and nurturing Indonesia's timber and logging 
industry.  This highlights the tension between environmental 
protection and economic growth that the GOI will use to urge 
developed countries to be more generous with financial incentives to 
poorer countries and make more emissions cuts. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Still, many environmentalists question Indonesia's will and 
capacity to enforce a REDD program by cracking down on powerful 
timber interests, and Kaban himself has come under increasing 
scrutiny from the police and public for his unhelpful intervention 
in high profile illegal logging cases.  As a result, he may have a 
low profile at COP-13, allowing cabinet colleagues and technical 
subordinates (such as Director General for Forest Research and 
Development Wahyudi Wardoyo, who is the Dephut lead on REDD) to 
promote inclusion of deforestation and a carbon-market funding 
mechanism for avoided deforestation. 
 
Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries: Freddy Numberi 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
¶9. (SBU) The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries has the GOI 
lead on the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), which President SBY has 
made a personal priority.  Minister Freddy Numberi, the only native 
Papuan currently in the Cabinet, has appointed Head of Marine and 
Fisheries Research Agency Dr. Indroyono Soesilo to serve as the GOI 
point of contact for the CTI.  The GOI calls the Coral Triangle area 
-- including vast tracts in Numberi's native Papua -- the marine 
equivalent of the Amazon and Congo basins, with the highest levels 
of coral diversity and richest marine life in the world. 
 
¶10. (SBU) During the CTI side event in Bali, the Ministry will seek 
agreement on next steps of cooperation between CTI countries, and 
hope for concrete commitments of financial assistance from Australia 
and the U.S. for those programs.  Numberi and his subordinates will 
be wary of the REDD initiative monopolizing available financial 
incentives from donor countries, and will seek to keep CTI in the 
world's spotlight during COP-13, hoping that outstanding technical 
and methodological questions surrounding REDD will work in favor of 
this marine conservation effort. 
 
Minister of Foreign Affairs:  N. Hassan Wirayuda 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
¶11. (SBU) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will serve as co-chair of 
COP-13 in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, and Minister 
Wirayuda will be part of the Indonesian delegation, under the 
 
JAKARTA 00003258  003 OF 003 
 
 
leadership of Dr. Emil Salim.  We expect him to play a mediating and 
advisory role, helping his GOI team members explore multilateral 
approaches and solutions that will be palatable to the U.S. and 
other countries with opposing views.  Wirayuda's subordinates say 
the GOI delegation will make a strong effort to reach agreement on 
multilateral funding mechanisms for adaptation and mitigation, 
including technology transfer (see para 14 for more on multilateral 
funds). 
 
Minister of Trade: Dr. Mari Pangestu 
--------------------------------------- 
¶12. (SBU) Dr. Mari Elka Pangestu is a multilateralist and reformer 
by temperament, and pragmatic in practice.  She will host a 
high-level dialogue on trade and climate change issues during 
COP-13, where Ministers of Trade will focus specifically on ways 
that trade rules may contribute to climate change policy.  Pangestu 
expects the dialogue to reach consensus and provide recommendations 
on how to address the links between trade, climate change and 
sustainable development, with a likely emphasis on the 
responsibilities of developed countries. 
 
¶13. (SBU) While generally preferring consensus building to 
confrontation, Pangestu has been outspoken on the obligations she 
believes advanced nations have toward developing countries.  Despite 
this, she and Finance Minister Mulyani (see below) -- also a 
reformer -- are likely to be two of the strongest proponents of 
market-friendly approaches to climate change adaptation and 
mitigation, including through the full range of trade, investment, 
fiscal and regulatory policy options. 
 
Minister of Finance: Sri Mulyani Indrawati 
------------------------------------------ 
¶14. (U) Sri Mulyani Indrawati is convening the first parallel 
high-level meeting for Finance Ministers on climate change issues 
during COP-13.  Minister Mulyani will focus on the consequences of 
climate change on the global economy, how domestic financial 
policies can address climate change issues, common international 
objectives, and identifying next steps for the Finance Ministers. 
The plan is for the Finance Ministers to discuss ideas and present 
an agreed statement at the COP-13 plenary on December 14.  Mulyani 
has stated that climate change is also a development, economic and 
investment problem, and that it is time for Finance Ministers to 
integrate climate change issues into policy and financial planning. 
 
¶15. (SBU) Mulyani and her Ministry are ready to support climate 
change mitigation and adaptation through the full range of fiscal 
and regulatory policy tools (taxes, investment policy, procurement 
and other expenditure policies, etc.) at their disposal.  The 
Finance Ministry is in the process of designing of a macro level 
"low carbon growth strategy" for Indonesia.  Mulyani is also 
reportedly pressing the World Bank to launch its proposed 
Indonesia-specific "ICARUS" multi-donor trust fund for climate 
change mitigation and adaptation during COP-13, but this is not yet 
decided.  She would be likely to support a similar multi-donor or 
multilateral fund for technology transfer. 
 
 
HUME