The Indonesian government recently announced its target of reducing carbon emissions by as much as 26 percent by 2020, becoming the first developing country to do so. The Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar also added that, although under the Kyoto Protocol's framework Indonesia is not obliged to reduce its carbon emissions and the government has decided to follow low-carbon development strategies outlined in its Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN).

In the recent climate change negotiations, especially at the Bangkok meeting, few developed nations have been very vocal in their demands for binding emission targets applicable to developing nations as well. This has been an especially contentious issue since one of the basic principles of the Kyoto Protocol is not putting emission targets for developing nations, and thus developing nations feel calling for any cuts is violating the Kyoto Protocol.

The Indonesian archipelago consists of over 17,000 islands and populated by 237million people, making it the world's fourth most populous city. Majority of Indonesian islands are uninhabited and have dense forest cover. The forests have been a rich source of income, through timber and rubber exports. For decades chainsaws have been illegally cutting down trees in protected national parks, but this is slowly being controlled. Protecting these forests and rejuvenating destroyed forests will be the key to decreasing emissions. The minister said under the Kyoto Protocol's convention called the Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry (LULUCF), which provides a way to gain carbon offsets from forests, Indonesia hopes to achieve 75% of its emissions target.

Dependence on LULUCF squarely implies that a clear Copenhagen deal is necessary for Indonesia to achieve its goal, since LULUCF's key details need to be agreed upon. Another Kyoto protocol tool that Indonesia would be using to finance its reforestation projects would be the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). The National Climate Change Council estimates that reducing Indonesia's emissions by 40 percent from forests will cost around $32 billion.

Successfully achieving this target will be a very challenging and will need so many things to be in place like the whole carbon accounting, your land-use planning and improved governance. But Indonesia's recent crackdown on illegal but lucrative palm oil plantations are a sign of its commitment to revitalizing its forests. Police and activists have been sweeping down illegal palm oil plantations in protected areas, armed with chainsaws.

A major portion of its emissions will be reduced from increasing the renewable energy percentage in its power production mix. The rest will be achieved from regulating sectorial emission caps in transport, manufacturing, steel sectors, etc. It is not very clear if there will a countrywide emissions trading program in place or taxation on industries.

I find this a very positive step before the COP-15 especially in the face of developed nations allegations that developing nations are not doing their best in taking steps for a low-carbon economy. But the dependency of Indonesia's success is on the financing mechanisms of Kyoto protocol, which are still not very clearly mapped out. Not achieving this in Copenhagen this year will be a major failure. Nevertheless I hope more developing nations follow Indonesia's lead and announce national targets for emissions reductions.