REDD must address corruption to save rainforest in Indonesia

The Indonesian government squandered billions of dollars in funds set aside for reforestation through corruption and mismanagement in the 1990s, raising important questions as the country prepares for the influx of money from a proposed climate change mitigation scheme known as REDD+ (reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation), warns a new report released Tuesday by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), a forest policy research group. The report, titled Financial governance and Indonesia's Reforestation Fund during the Soeharto and post-Soeharto periods, 1989–2009: A political economic analysis of lessons for REDD+, and funded by the World Bank, the European Commission, and AusAID, says that unless major reforms are enacted, including oversight mechanisms, REDD+ runs the risk of befalling the same fate as the failed reforestation fund.