Indonesia has held out the promise of a 40 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions if it received international support.
South-east Asia's largest economy is one of the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters after the US and China, and four-fifths of its emissions come from the degradation of peatland and the logging of its forest cover in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua.
A cut of 40 per cent by 2030, compared with 2005 levels, would be a far more ambitious target than other developing countries have considered and corresponds with some of the most stringent targets rich nations are considering for themselves.
Indonesia's National Climate Change Council, which heads the nation's participation in international climate change negotiations, said yesterday that the country's annual greenhouse gas emissions would rise to 3.6 gigatonnes by 2030 if no action were taken, from a 2005 level of 2.3 gigatonnes.
But emissions could be reduced to 1.3 gigatonnes - a cut of 43 per cent on 2005 levels - if the rate at which Indonesia cut down its trees was slowed, and if the country pursued reforestation and protected peatland areas.
Preserving forest and peatland is cheap compared with cutting emissions from industry and electricity generation. Lord Nicholas Stern, author of a landmark review of the costs of climate change, has estimated that the world could stop half of current deforestation for between $10bn and $15bn (€10.5bn, £9.25bn) a year.
So far, no international agreement has been reached on how to compensate poor countries for leaving their trees standing.
Indonesia is expected to release next week a draft strategy on reducing emissions, ahead of December's climate change conference in Copenhagen.
Additional reporting by Taufan Hidayat
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