G20 Indonesia: Steps Towards Sustainable Environmental Sustainability

Currently, Indonesia is still struggling to improve, ensure, and protect the environment. There are several environmental problems that are still Indonesia’s homework, namely Pollution of the air, soil, water that has not been completed. Then the denuded forests because they are often cut down for land clearing and excessive use of wood have resulted in the problem of forest and land fires, which are still at a stalemate. In fact, the forest is a reservoir of germplasm and water for life. Deforestation also causes floods and landslides during the rainy season every year. Indonesia’s environmental issues that have not been resolved until now are the extinction of flora and fauna due to imbalance in the ecosystem and also illegal hunting of animals. River pollution and abrasion are also still environmental problems every year. The sea which is starting to be filled with garbage also threatens marine life which then has a bad impact on energy and protein sources as well as people’s livelihoods, not to mention the problem of clean water scarcity that some Indonesians experience every year. Although Indonesia has pocketed these environmental problems, they have not yet reached the stage of extinction and cannot be handled. Indonesia also has a biodiversity that has large biological resources, so it has a higher responsibility in protecting the environment.

In addition, Indonesia also has ambitions to achieve the SDGs, especially in environmental safety and sustainability programs. Therefore, it takes great effort and good support and cooperation for this achievement.

Closer to G-20 Indonesia 2022

This year is important year for Indonesia, in addition to being the right time for health and economic recovery which is expected to continue, Indonesia will also become the holder of the G-20 Presidency, with the theme Recover Together, Recover Stronger. Indonesia wants the whole world to achieve a stronger and sustainable recovery together. The G-20 is a great opportunity for Indonesia in pushing strategic agendas that will have a positive impact on national and global interests. The G-20, starting from December 1, 2021, will end on November 30, 2022, and will be attended by both developing and developed countries. In essence, the G20 is a multilateral cooperation forum consisting of 19 main countries and one economic area, namely the European Union (EU). The G-20 represents more than 60% of the world’s population, 75% of global trade, and 80% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). Since its formation in 1999, the G-20 has resolved several economic problems, one of which was the 2008 financial crisis that caused the world’s giants to collapse. The G-20 consists of two tracks, namely the financial track and the Sherpa track. The types of G20 meetings have 3 types of meetings, namely Summits which are meetings at the regional head level, then Ministerial and Deputies Meetings, namely meetings held in each of the main focus areas of the forum. The last one is the Working Group, which is an association of expert members from G 20 countries who deal with specific issues related to the broader G20 agenda, which is then included in the ministerial segment and finally at a high-level conference, in other words to reach a conference. High level requires careful planning. The G20 Presidency of Indonesia has 4 pillars, they are:

Strengthening the partnership environment

Drive productivity

Increase resilience and stability

Ensuring sustainable and inclusive growth

 Stronger global collective leadership

Environmental Issues in Indonesia’s G-20

Environmental issues are part of the Sherpa track agenda. The Sherpa track is a G-20 track that discusses non-financial economic issues, namely all issues related to energy, development, tourism, digital economy, education, labor, agriculture, trade, health, anti-corruption, environment and climate change. The environmental and climate sustainability working group aims to pursue new, inclusive and resilient models for accelerating the transition to energy, green economy and environmental sustainability. Climate change adaptation, resilience and nature-based solutions aim to combine emission reduction and adaptation, combat biodiversity loss, improve air quality and increase energy efficiency. Indonesia’s G-20 presidency cannot be separated from the continuation of the presidency of the previous years. The Communique, which is the final result of the G20 presidency, is in the form of a statement and cooperation document from G20 members that contains a commitment and a joint statement which will then be submitted to the public. During the Saudi Arabian presidency, the G20 communiqué contained the control of land degradation and damage to coral reef habitat and marine debris as well as the control of covid 19. This was marked by the global initiative on Reducing Land Degradation and Enhancing conservation of forestry Habitats and the launch of the global Coral Reef Research and Development Acceleration Platforms.

At the Italian presidency in 2021, the G-20 members agreed to do 4 things, namely 1. Strengthening actions to contain and control habitat destruction 2. Strengthening the commitment to achieve land degradation reduction and strive to achieve land degradation neutrality 3. Strengthening action for conservation, protection and restoration, and sustainable use of biological diversity. 4. Strengthening the commitment to end illegal unreported and unregulated fishing. As well as handling marine debris, including strengthening existing instruments and developing global instruments related to marine debris and plastic waste in the sea. As for the Indonesian presidency, there are three main issues of the Environment and Climate change that are priorities. This commitment is expected to help control the global temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius according to the target in the Paris agreement. The three priority issues are: First, support sustainable recovery Second, increased land and sea-based actions Third, increasing the effectiveness of the use of resources implemented for environmental protection and climate change control purposes. These three issues were brought up as an effort to restore the environment after the pandemic. In addition to the priority issues above, the G-20 also supports the post 2020 global biodiversity framework, ecosystem restoration that focuses on reducing land degradation and increasing sustainable conservation and restoration of terrestrial habitats, specifically peatlands, mangroves and other ecosystems. In addition, the G-20 also supports global commitments to water resource management including sustainable lake management, watershed management and encouraging water resource efficiency to achieve water security in support of SDGs 6 Not only that, the G-20 also seeks to create sustainable and innovative funding to support the restoration of unique ecosystems and marine ecosystems, also strengthen marine debris action plans and further actions in the protection of coastal and marine ecosystems based on land and oceans with a focus on participation community.

In the Plenary G-20 Environment Deputies Meeting and Climate Sustainability Working Group (1st EDM-CSWG) which ended on March 23, 2022, 7 priority issues were discussed, namely land degradation, biodiversity loss, marine litter, water, sustainable consumption and resources efficiency. , sustainable finance and marine protection. Six issues have been resolved by seeking input from G-20 EDM member countries, while the issue of sustainable consumption and resource efficiency will be implemented in June 2022 at the second meeting.

Why Choose the Issues above? The choice of environmental issues in the G20 is not without clear reasons. The issues raised have been carefully thought out and estimated in accordance with global and local interests. As a country with high biodiversity, Indonesia has a high influence in voicing the use of biological resources that is sustainable, conservative, and with fair profit sharing. The selection of the issues that have been mentioned are also very popular issues in the environmental management arena in other international forums, biodiversity, ecosystem restoration, marine debris management and coastal ecosystem protection, mangrove and mangrove forest conservation, management and conservation of clean water. the essence of today’s global environmental problems that cannot be postponed any longer. G-20 presidency this time is a signal for sustainable environmental protection. If it can be implemented properly, there will be many benefits that will be felt, both material and non-material. This will speed up the recovery of the post-pandemic environment, creating a healthier and cleaner environment with good water resistance.

Uswah Alaydrus
Uswah Alaydrus
Uswah Alaydrus (孙美琳) from Indonesia. She received a Master of Law in International Relations from the School of International and Public Affairs, Jilin University, China. She is member of Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Researcher Center (TDMRC) and independent analyst emphasis on Environmental In International Relations Issues. She is also founder of Uswah Home Education Centre for Kids.