From October to December 2020, CRIC held webinar activities attended by at least 339 participants from 33 cities/districts in Indonesia from representatives of national and local governments, universities, professional associations, non-governmental organizations and local communities. This webinar is not only a means of knowledge exchange but also an adhesive for inter-agency coordination to strengthen climate change governance.
Organizing this webinar is one of CRIC’s steps to increase the capacity of local governments regarding efforts to integrate climate resilience and inclusiveness into development planning by providing policy guidance and practical guidance. This activity is also in line with the national development agenda, as stated in the RPJMN 2020-2024, which has placed addressing climate change as one of the development priorities.
The first webinar, which took place on October 27, 2020, brought together Dr. Mia Amalia from the Ministry of PPN/Bappenas, Anak Agung Gede Putra from the Directorate of Climate Change Adaptation of KLHK, Irawati from the Directorate General of Bina Bangda Kemendagri and Dr. Irwanda Wisnu Wardhana from the Fiscal Policy Agency of the Ministry of Finance.This first session focused on the importance of aligning regional development with national priorities, how cities can contribute to supporting national development targets and climate change financing schemes that local governments can use to support climate change action.
Planning to evaluation
The first webinar highlighted the opportunity for cities to play an active and strategic role in addressing climate change. Quoting the statement of the Director of Climate Change Control of MoEF, Dr. Ruandha Agung Sugardiman, cities need to oversee the issue of climate resilience from “the planning, budgeting, implementation to monitoring and evaluation stages.”
Indonesia already has policy instruments as a foundation for local governments to carry out these stages. In terms of planning, the Minister of Home Affairs Regulation No. 7/2018 on the Preparation and Implementation of SEA in the Preparation of RPJMD is a reference for local governments to integrate climate change issues in development planning documents. From the fiscal side, Indonesia has conducted budget tagging to monitor state budget expenditures aimed at climate change mitigation programs.
The existence of budget tagging will help local governments to decide priority programs that are worthy of funding. The Ministry of Finance also provides financing schemes that can be accessed by local governments such as the Regional Incentive Fund and the issuance of green bonds (bonds for environmentally sound programs).
Inclusiveness and synchronization
Technical guidelines for integrating climate resilience and inclusiveness were further elaborated in the second webinar that took place on December 10, 2020. This session featured Hadi Sucahyono Ph.D as the Head of the Regional Infrastructure Development Agency of the Ministry of PUPR, Ety Setyorini from the Directorate General of Bina Bangda of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Dr. Wicaksono Sarosa from Ruang Waktu Knowledge Hub and Dr. Andy Simarmata as the Chair of the Indonesian Planning Experts Association. Moderated by Dr. Wahyu Mulyana, this session emphasized the importance of inclusivity and policy synchronization.
Referring to the UN Habitat City and Regional Planning Guidelines, the Head of BPIW of the Ministry of PUPR emphasized that urban planning and development must be carried out inclusively, by also involving development actors outside the government such as non-governmental organizations, universities and the business world. The inclusive approach has also been carried out by the Ministry of PUPR which has a National Action Plan for Climate Change Mitigation Adaptation (RAN MAPI) and always involves other ministries in development planning. Currently, the Ministry of PUPR has also marked the budget for programs related to climate change and disaster mitigation and adaptation.
Dr. Wicaksono Sarosa gave a more practical presentation on the description of an inclusive city. Inclusive cities provide adequate public facilities for all citizens, including women, the elderly and people with disabilities. Inclusiveness is also reflected in the provision of open access and opportunities for marginalized groups to information, employment, decision-making processes and public spaces.
Meanwhile, Dr. Andy Simarmata said that local governments that have just held regional elections have the opportunity to make development planning more measurable and integrated, in order to achieve sustainable development. However, in order to assist local governments, synchronized planning involving cross-ministries is needed nationally.
In 2030, Indonesia will start reporting on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) commitments and the New Urban Agenda, which will require cities’ contributions. In addition, cities must also include the National Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation and the National Action Plan on Greenhouse Gases in their planning. Nationally, Indonesia has implemented the One Map policy since 2016 and One Data since 2019. Dr. Andy Simarmata added that post-enactment of the Job Creation Law, there is expected to be One Consolidated Plan that can synchronize various plans in terms of spatial planning, environment, public works and housing, trade and industry to tourism so that “regions are not burdened with making plans.”
The organization of these two webinars intends to help city governments prepare sustainable development plans and find solutions to overcome challenges in planning. Municipalities are expected to apply the learning from the webinars to their planning processes. The results of this planning are expected to be presented by the city in the 3rd webinar which will be held in February 2021.