Bali, The RIMBA program participates in international activities entitled Global Environment Facility (GEF)-8 Asia Pasific Regional Workshop. This activity was organized by GEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK), taking place in the Nusa Dua area of Bali on January 10-12 2023.
The activity was opened by Deputy Minister of Environment and Forestry Alue Dohong who previously, together with GEF CEO Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, had visited the exhibition booths of various programs funded by GEF, one of which was the RIMBA Program booth. At the RIMBA Program booth, Alue Dohong, Carlos Rodriguez, and their entourage were received by the RIMBA Program Team Leader, Barano Siswa Sulistyawan who provided an explanation about the RIMBA program.
Carlos Rodriguez assessed that it is very important to strengthen the protection and preservation of biodiversity and ecosystems in the RIMBA corridor. If the RIMBA program is successfully implemented, it will then be replicated in four other corridors on the island of Sumatra.
GEF is an international funding agency that assists developing countries in overcoming environmental problems. In Indonesia, GEF funds many activities that target issues such as: biodiversity, conservation of protected habitats and animals, ecosystem restoration, reduction of pollution from chemicals and waste, clean energy, social forestry, fisheries management, climate change mitigation, and others. etc.
The RIMBA program itself is one of the programs that GEF supports through United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning / National Land Agency (ATR/BPN) acting as National Executing Agency (NEA).
The RIMBA program is an effort to save the Sumatran ecosystem and become a model for realizing green economic development through low carbon development, biodiversity conservation & forest restoration efforts, as well as promoting the economic value of environmental services.
The RIMBA Program work area is in the RIMBA corridor area which covers 3 provinces, namely: Riau, Jambi and West Sumatra Provinces, with a total area of around 3.8 million Ha. The RIMBA Corridor is a natural link between several National Strategic Areas (KSN) which have high biodiversity value, namely the Kerinci Seblat National Park (TN), Rimbang Baling National Park, Bukit Batabuh National Park, Evidence Tigapuluh National Park and Berbak National Park.
From 2022 to early 2023, the Partnership for Governance Reform (KEMITRAAN) is entrusted with carrying out the inception RIMBA program. In this phase, KEMITRAAN together with the Directorate General of Spatial Planning of the Ministry of ATR/BPN carried out a series of program consolidation, coordination and synchronization activities with various stakeholders, both at the center and in the regions. In addition, data updating and team formation were also carried out Project Manajemen Unit (PMU) at the national level, as well Project Implementation Unit (PIU) in the area. The program is planned to be implemented until 2028.
“This activity gave us a lot of learning that we can later apply to the RIMBA Program. The RIMBA program will begin implementation this year (2023) and getting knowledge at the start of the program is very helpful,” said Fransisca Weni Tyas, Directorate of Spatial Utilization Synchronization, Ministry of ATR/BPN who was also present at this activity.
