CRIC was involved in the Public Consultation of the Strategic Environmental Assessment-Regional Medium-Term Development Plan (KLHS-RPJMD) of Samarinda City 2021-2026 which took place online via the Zoom application on December 10, 2020. CRIC’s involvement in the activity aims to ensure that issues of climate change resilience and inclusiveness are integrated in the KLHS-RPJMD document.

This is the second Samarinda SEA Public Consultation activity. The first Public Consultation took place on December 2, 2020. CRIC was represented by program staff Erickson Sidjabat. In addition, the Technical Team of the Climate Change Working Group (Pokja), whose formation was initiated by CRIC, is also a member of the KLHS-RPJMD Pokja Team. Samarinda is one of 270 cities/districts in Indonesia that held simultaneous Regional Head Elections last December 9.

Local governments are required to prepare SEA referring to the Minister of Home Affairs Regulation No. 7/2018 on the Preparation and Implementation of SEA in the Preparation of RPJMD. This momentum is an entry point for CRIC so that efforts to address climate change contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In the Public Consultation, CRIC encouraged the local government to make additional efforts beyond business as usual (BAU) to achieve the SDG targets. Additional efforts are needed because through the formulation of development scenarios and projections, the SDG targets still cannot be achieved in 2026 if Samarinda City only adheres to business as usual ways of organizing its development.

The CRIC project will help Samarinda to achieve SDGs 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Settlements), 13 (Addressing Climate Change) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). The presentation showed that the Samarinda City Government has not yet achieved all four goals, which are outlined in 20 targets and 55 indicators.

The unachievement of SDG 13 related to climate change management is also an important note. CRIC provided input for the KLHS-RPJMD Working Group to recommend better implementation of the Regional Action Plan-Greenhouse Gases. In addition, CRIC suggested the need for SEA recommendations for RPJMDs whose SDG targets have not been achieved and SEA recommendations for SDGs that have not been implemented at all.

The Samarinda KLHS-RPJMD document is expected to be completed in December 2020 to be followed up with a validation process by the East Kalimantan Provincial Environment Office.