Norway`s Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim has hailed the signing of a Presidential Instruction on a two-year moratorium on forest clearing in Indonesia.

"The moratorium is an important step forward for Indonesia. What Indonesia has embarked on is a very serious development choice. Indonesia`s efforts to combine the goal of 7% economic growth with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26% by 2020 are commendable," Erik Solheim said in a press statement in Oslo, Norway.

The moratorium will help facilitate the attainment of the two goals, and constitutes an important part of a broader land use reform agenda in Indonesia, though it will not in itself ensure success, he stated. 

Indonesia is still working on robustly mandating and establishing a new REDD+ Agency and an independent institution for monitoring, reporting and verifying green house gas emissions. 

The rest of the reforms Indonesia has committed to will be crucial, as will the implementation of the reform agenda, he added. 

"But the moratorium is one important part of the puzzle," the minister said. 

Indonesia`s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono finally signed a long-awaited two-year moratorium on new logging concessions for primary forests and peatlands.

The decree was part of a $1 billion deal with Norway to protect Indonesia`s natural forests and peatlands. 

In line with a Letter of Intent (LOI) between Indonesia and Norway, called the Oslo Accord, the government was supposed to impose a moratorium on deforestation starting January 2011

Source: ANTARA