Carbon trading to benefit grassroots communities: Forestry Minister

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni stated that communities, through social forestry and customary forest schemes, have the opportunity to gain economic benefits from carbon trading.

"Carbon trading is not only for the elite, not only for those who have long been well-off, but also for people at the grassroots level," he said during the launch of the Carbon Unit Registry System (SRUK) here on Thursday.

He noted that around 8.3 million hectares of social forestry areas and 1.4 million hectares of customary forests have the potential to benefit from the future development of carbon trading.

According to him, the ministry has issued approvals for three Forest Utilization Business Licenses (PBPH) and one social forestry scheme to participate in carbon trading.

"I have issued approvals for four entities to begin trading carbon, which are three concession-based PBPHs and one social forestry scheme," he remarked.

Deputy Minister of Forestry Rohmat Marzuki said the approvals pave the way for participation in the voluntary carbon market.

"The approvals to three sustainable forest management units under PBPH and one social forestry scheme open the door to the voluntary carbon market. Therefore, the mechanism is voluntary," Marzuki stated.

He explained that the social forestry scheme, in the form of a village forest, covers 224 thousand hectares, with a total carbon volume of around 31.7 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) available for trading.

The transaction value from the carbon trading is estimated to reach Rp5 trillion (around US$276.32 million), with a projected non-tax state revenue (PNBP) of around Rp500 billion (around US$27.63 million).

Carbon trading is also expected to provide opportunities not only for private companies and investors but also for forest farmer groups and Indigenous communities.

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Translator: Aria, Kenzu

Editor: Arie Novarina

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