US provides aid to Indonesia's Green Prosperity Program

Indonesia is to receive USD600 million in US aid, half of which will go to the country's "green prosperity" program. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed the agreement which aims to kick-start economic development through clean energy and sustainable management of Indonesia's natural resources.

With the country being the world's third largest green house gas emitter, much of which comes from the effects of deforestation, a critical component of the package will be funding for projects that reduce poverty while also reducing deforestation and the degradation of Indonesia's carbon-rich peat soils

"It is impossible to curb global carbon pollution and avert a climate catastrophe without attention to avoided deforestation and increased reforestation. Forestry programs also offer one of the surest roads to capturing the economic benefits from this global challenge," says Dr. Andrew Light, Senior Fellow and Director of International Climate Policy at the Center for American Progress, reported Sustainable Business.

Funding is also ear-marked for renewable energy investments such as modest-sized hydropower projects and geothermal plants. According to reports the over-sight by the US of fund distributions will “help Indonesia make wiser land-use decisions by, for example, guiding future palm oil plantations away from pristine rainforests and toward abandoned, degraded lands.”