Achieving water, energy and food security in Indonesia
This policy brief (PDF) was conducted by the Global Canopy Programme in partnership with WCS Indonesia Program, and funded by The Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN). It draws on a series of studies, multi- stakeholder meetings and group discussions that explored the challenges facing Indonesia’s national and provincial governments in achieving both development and environmental goals. The analysis is informed by a water-energy-food (WEF) nexus framework that has emerged as an important concept for addressing resource trade-offs. The report firstly highlights trade-offs and synergies in existing development plans that undermine efforts towards a holistic sustainable development agenda. Secondly, it identifies coordination gaps, priorities and entry points to improve resource use governance within three key policy frameworks: (a) spatial planning (b) development planning and (c) climate mitigation and adaptation planning. These recommendations aim to inform ongoing policy development including the next mid-term development plan (RPJMN 2020-2025) and the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement, which was recently ratified by the Indonesian Government through its NDC as well as its Sustainable Development Goal commitments. The policy coherence analysis identifies several strategies that could realise potential synergies between different sector targets, including the prioritization of degraded land for agricultural expansion, increases in agricultural productivity, and investment in forest conservation as ‘natural’ infrastructure for improving downstream water supply for agriculture and energy production, generating co-benefits such as emissions reductions, biodiversity and forest-based employment and livelihoods. This policy brief demonstrates the value of a WEF nexus framework to identify and discuss the interdependencies between different sectoral policies and assess how cumulatively they can work towards achieving Indonesia’s development and climate goals.