CRIC Project continues its supports to pilot cities through capacity building in developing the strategic city specific climate action plan (CAP). It is one way to identify a city’s climate priorities, and CAP provides evidence-based measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to address the potential climate impact on city development.
Trainings and technical assistances have been identified as the most effective means for pilot cities to be capacitated to develop mitigation action plans, as with Mataram on the 8th-10th of August 2023.
Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province, features a 9km shoreline and four large rivers that provide natural ecosystem services. However, CRIC Project’s Urban Analysis Report finds that Mataram’s urban development and population growth have resulted in several environmental concerns.
The city produces high GHG emissions, which are mostly generated from burning solid waste and mismanagement of the liquid ones. As a result, waste management is crucial for Mataram, both for promoting environmental health and reducing its greenhouse gases emissions. Waste incineration reduces the volume of waste going to landfills, however the process still emits greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
The good news is, CRIC Project is working with city’s stakeholders towards creating solution for these environmental problems. The Mataram city Pokja (Climate Working Group) received more detailed mitigation training (M2), which included baseline emission calculation in Lombok Astoria Hotel, Mataram, as well as technical assistance to complete the M2, facilitated by experts from CCROM-SEAP (Centre for Climate Risk and Opportunity Management in Southeast Asia Pacific), IPB University.
Mr. M. Sujayadi, ST., M.Eng.Sc, on behalf of the head of the Economic Planning and Natural Resources sector of Mataram city planning agency (Bappeda), conveyed his enthusiasm for the city’s journey toward achieving emission reduction targets, as well as the necessity of data collecting. Sujayadi stated, “The ever-important data is the foundation of effective and long-lasting mitigation action.”
During the mitigation training and technical assistance, the Mataram Climate Working Group was divided into three groups representing diverse sectors such as Energy, AFOLU (Agriculture, Forestry, Land-Use) to determine baselines and potential GHG mitigation in Mataram city over three days.
Beforehand, the working group were given a refresher lesson on the notion of emissions and how to reduce them. Prof. Dr. Rizaldi Boer, director of CCROM, encouraged participants to continue working on baseline development because it is a key reference for bringing about change in Mataram city’s local governance that considers not only economic growth but also climate-friendliness.
“Gathering and calculating baseline data can be difficult, but it is necessary for developing meaningful mitigation action. Results can be conveyed/included in the Mataram City RPJMD for 2021-2026 by understanding the current level of emissions and the projected level of emissions in the absence of action,” he said.
Prof. Dr. Boer also emphasised that keeping 1.5 degrees Celsius at bay is not as simple as providing, say, electric cars or motorcycles without fully transitioning to clean or renewable energy. “Simple crop production adjustments, such as using less or more efficient fertiliser can help to reduce the release of nitrous oxide, another potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere in the AFOLU sector,” he said.
Baseline calculations were enthusiastically done by all climate working group members from the various sectors, assisted by Dr. Muhammad Ardiansyah for the AFOLU sector, Mr. La Ode Muhammad Abdul Wahid for the energy sector, and other CCROM experts that are assisting online for the waste sector. During the training, the calculation of the waste sector’s baseline sparked talks about alternative waste disposal methods other than landfilling.