VIVAnews - The Indonesian and US government agree on debt-for-nature swap (DNS) program valuing US$19.6 million which is based on the US Law on Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA). The fund will be used to finance the tropical forest conservation in Sumatra.
The DNS-TFCA negotiation process has been started since 2007 and it gives possibility to non-governmental organizations (NGO) to contribute 10 percent of the exchanged total debt, reaching US$2 million.
Forestry Minister MS Ka'ban stated that the DNS-FCA fund would be used as the financial source for Sumatra's tropical forest conservation. "The debt relief for Sumatra [forest] is the first time and hopefully it can be done for other forests in different areas," he said during the signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the US Ambassador for Indonesia Cameron Hume in Jakarta on Tuesday, June 30.
Two NGOs, Conservation International Foundation from the US and Yayasan Keanekaragaman Hayati (Kehati) from Indonesia, each donated US$1 million.
Hume added that the debt relief agreement was a part of Indonesia-US bilateral cooperation to face the climate change.
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Translated by: Ariyantri E. Tarman
