6 June 2010, the Jakarta Post - Indonesia and Australia are set to launch the first-ever forest carbon project in Jambi following the adoption of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) scheme at the recent UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen.

The A$30 million project, to be launched this month, will be held in production, protected, conservation and communal forests in the province.

“This will be the first REDD application in communal forests,” Wandojo Siswanto, head of the Forestry Ministry’s climate change working group told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

He said the Jambi projects would help form policies on the sharing of financial benefits between the central government, local administration and the local communities in the province.

The Jambi project is the first project after developed nations and forest nations adopted REDD during the Copenhagen Summit, and Australia’s second project in Indonesia. The first project was implemented in peat swamp forests in Central Kalimantan with a A$40 million grant.

In addition, according to the news from Jakarta Globe on 6 June, Germany has committed 27 million euros ($39 million) for a pilot project that would demonstrate how the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation program would work ahead of its implementation in 2012.

Norway has provided 2 million euros for a three-year project that started last year, while the International Tropical Timber Organization has also committed $900,000 to a project that is expected to run for four years beginning this year in the Meru Betiri conservation forest in East Java.