SUARA PEMBAHARUAN: Achieving a Climate Resilient Society Through Accelerating the Achievement of Targets for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
This activity aims to publicize the good practices of the Climate Village Program (PROKLIM) from the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) through the Cocoa Life program, which has been developed by WVI in 18 villages in South Sulawesi province (Kab. Pinrang, Kab. Enrekang, and Kab. . Luwu) and 4 villages in Southeast Sulawesi Province (Kolaka Regency and East Kolaka Regency).
These good practices include educating residents regarding issues of climate change and environmental problems, encouraging the community to carry out village mapping and proposing programs that contribute to their environment which can be funded by village funds, and building partnerships that can support the implementation of PROKLIM. One of the best is the partnership with the South Sulawesi Forest Plant Seed Center (BPTH) so that 96,000 plant seeds (durian, avocado, and biti wood) are distributed to farmers.
Kevin Yosua, National Program Manager for Cocoa Life WVI, said that an assessment of community vulnerability and community capacity was carried out to assess whether Cocoa Life could contribute to PROKLIM. “The challenge is the understanding of the people we assist with technical terms such as Greenhouse Gases (GHG). Farmers see the context of climate change through experience, such as pests and plant diseases caused by extreme weather changes.”
Steps taken then were educating residents and increasing the capacity of 40 cadres in the assisted areas. WVI also encourages local governments to develop partnerships for land cover, especially critical land. Next, community involvement in Development Planning by making proposals through the Musrenbang. Until 2022, there have been 83 development activities or proposals which were eventually funded by the Village Fund in the amount of 5.5 billion rupiah.
"The Cocoa Life program not only trains farmers on Good Agriculture Practices but also trains them on Good Environment Practices, namely how to increase public awareness so they want to contribute to do positive things for their environment through PROKLIM. The Cocoa Life program also supports the community by distributing 176,000 shade trees which can be planted in cocoa gardens, in riverbank areas, or areas where there is no "canopy" above them," said Cocoa Operation Lead Indonesia, Mondelez International, Zulqarnain.
The Cocoa Life program is a global scale program initiated by Mondelez International to ensure the sustainability of cocoa cultivation with a holistic approach in solving root causes and ensuring systemic and sustainable change. Through the vision of making chocolate properly, one of the agendas is to ensure that the cocoa produced by farmers does not damage the environment and soil for cocoa sustainability in the future. This program was launched from 2012 to 2022 by investing US$400,000,000 to empower 200,000 cocoa farmers and reach 1,000,000 community members in 6 countries (Indonesia, India, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ghana, and the Coast Ivory). In Indonesia, Mondelez International is working with WVI and Barry Callebout.
"Currently the Ministry of Environment and Forestry is developing the Climate Village Program, through PROKLIM climate management and control efforts, especially to increase resilience to the negative risks of climate change and reduce GHG emissions, can be carried out by various levels of society or local communities. Indonesia shows its commitment and contribution to controlling climate change by increasing its commitment to efforts to reduce GHG emissions through the Enhance Nationality Determine Contribution document. The GHG reduction target increases from 29% to 31.89% (unconditional scenario or self-effort) or from 41% to 43.2% (if receiving international assistance). Therefore, we appreciate Mondelez International as a business sector and Wahana Visi Indonesia which has contributed to PROKLIM," said the Director General of Climate Change Management, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Laksmi Dewanthi.
