24 cities and regencies in Indonesia on 10-11 October 2022 attended the two-day culmination workshop of the 2021-2022 World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF) One Planet City Challenge in Jakarta, discussing the role of local governments in supporting the country’s low carbon development goals and exchanging their best climate action practices.

Noor Syaifudin (left), representative from the Ministry of Finance highlighted that climate budget tagging is important to monitor the local governments’ progress related to climate change activities. Anggi Pertiwi PutriI, representative from the Ministry of National Development Planning (right) (Bappenas) highlighted that monitoring, reporting, and evaluation low carbon and climate resilience development actions have an important role in mitigating GHG emissions in Indonesia. The session was moderated by Suryani Amin (center) from ICLEI Indonesia.

The dialogue on “Increasing the Role of Local Governments in Achieving Indonesia’s NDC Targets” was led by Irma Nurmayanti, Head of the Tourism, Youth, Sports, and Tourism Office of Balikpapan City; Ridwanullah, Head of the Environmental Agency of Langsa City; Kunto Bimaji, M.Si,  from the Ministry of Home Affairs; Anggi Pertiwi PutriI from the Ministry of National Development Planning; and Noor Syaifudin from the Ministry of Finance.

The session provided a platform for cities and districts to share their opportunities and challenges related to their climate action efforts in support of Indonesia’s NDCs. Most local governments mentioned the lack of funding, lack of technical capacity, and unclear official mandate and guidance on integrating climate change into local development plans to be critical hurdles to this end. 

Bimaji responded that local governments are expecte to implement sustainable development and integrate climate action into local development plans through mechanisms such as strategic environmental assessments.

Meanwhile, Syaifudin commented that “As part of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Indonesia is committed to reducing its emissions rate by 29% on its own and up to 41% with international funding support. As a result of the Ministry of Finance’s efforts, local governments are now able to access several sources of climate funding both within and outside of the country.”

The representatives also said there is a need to enhance collaboration between local and national governments to accomplish low carbon and resilience development goals that contribute to the achievement of the NDC target.

Collaboration building strategy workshop

Having collaboration and synergy between villages, cities, and regions plays a significant role in reducing the risk of climate disasters and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

A major focus of the workshop was thus the fast-tracking of such multi-level and multi-stakeholder climate actions.

As an example of how to accelerate climate action, Fathia Lutfiananda, M. Sc from Resilience Development Initiative (RDI) presented how cities and villages can collaborate to solve environmental problems.

“Creating synergistic cooperation between urban and rural environmental problems requires both vertical and horizontal policies and collaborations,” stated Fathia.

Sujayadi from the Mataram City Development Planning Board shared their experience on inter-government collaborations. Mataram currenty works with the West Lombok Regency to provide water to its residents.

“We are heavily dependent on West Lombok Regency for clean water in Mataram. We reward the regency’s people who protect the forest and water sources by providing incentives,” said Sujayadi.

Ridwanullah from the Langsa City Environment Agency shared “The Mayor has issued a regulation allowing village budgets to be used to build a climate village. We have begun constructing climate villages in coastal areas.”

Additionally, Ridwan pointed out that, over the past decade, two-million mangrove seedlings have been planted to protect beaches and coastal villages from the harsh effects of the ocean.

Learning from DKI Jakarta’s best practices

The second day of the workshop saw the participants visiting TPS 3R Rawasari and Climate Village RW 03 Cempaka Putih Timur to learn how DKI Jakarta collaborates with communities in waste management and food security.

TPS 3R Rawasari features a Black Soldier Fly (BSF) facility.

The Acting Head of the DKI Jakarta Environmental Sub-department, Edy Mulyono, shared that DKI Jakarta generates up to 7,500 tons of waste daily, with the Central Jakarta district reaching up to 1,000 tons per day. Organic waste reaching TPS 3R Rawasari is processed using Black Soldier Flies (BSF) to turn food scraps into compost.

“Sustainability is key to effectively managing waste in Jakarta. The collaboration between the community and organizations such as WWF and ICLEI is required,” Mulyono explained.

The workshop participants visiting a Climate Village RW 03 Cempaka Putih Timur urban farm.

Meanwhile, the climate village served as an example of how communities can build food security through urban agriculture.

Farida Lahay from Jambi Development Planning Board (Bappeda), said that the two-day workshop had been very useful.

“It was helpful to learn from colleagues at the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, as well as share experiences with other cities and discuss the challenges each city and region faces,” said Lahay.