**Abstract**

The impacts of climate change are changes in rainfall patterns, sea level rise and extreme weather or extreme meteorological events. This impact will further provide dangers that threaten the sustainability of human life. The main causes of climate change are deforestation and forest degradation and the growth rate of industry and transportation modes that are not environmentally friendly. Therefore, Indonesia is participating in the Paris Agreement and implementing the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation program, role of conservation, sustainable management of forest and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+). In an effort to increase the prosperity of the State, many forests have been transferred to other uses such as the development of oil palm plantations, agricultural land and urban expansion etc. In fact, many agricultural lands have changed their function into settlements. If this happens, the forest area will continue to decrease again because after the agricultural land has turned into residential land, the forest land is converted again for agricultural expansion, this happens continuously. When viewed from the CO2 flux, there will also be changes in the basic CO2 flux from forest land, plantation land, agriculture and urban areas. The problem of deforestation and forest degradation is inseparable from the large number of forest conversion functions into oil palm plantations, expansion of agricultural areas and other uses such as urban development and infrastructure. Opportunities for climate change mitigation and adaptation include the implementation of the REDD+ program, financing of climate change mitigation and availability of climate information. The challenges faced include the lack of synergy in the policy framework and implementation of climate change control, recognition of indigenous peoples' rights and uncertainty in the implementation of the REDD+ program.

**Keywords:** flux CO2, REDD+, climate change, mitigation, adaptation, oil palm plantations

### **1. Introduction**

This paper discusses the implications of climate change in Indonesia and discusses the challenges to and opportunities for climate change mitigation and adaptation within Indonesia.

It is widely known that one of the reasons for climate change is global warming which is marked by an increase in air temperature. Climate change is associated with increased atmospheric temperature caused by the "Green House Effect" which occurs due to the increase in green house gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the gases that causes global warming. According to the IPCC [1], the average temperature of the earth's surface over the past century has increased by 1.30 F. The presence of CO2 is related to the condition of forests in an area. The trees that make up forests of various types and growth rates, known as forest structure and composition, have a role in storing CO2. Forests are dominated by vegetation that has chlorophyll which functions in the photosynthesis process by requiring light energy, water and CO2 to form carbohydrates. Thus the forest will absorb carbon from the air and accumulate in the plant body in the form of stems, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruit and roots and soil. In general, this process is known as Carbon Sequestration [2, 3]. Thus the forest can function as a carbon sink. Therefore, well-well-maintained forests can increase carbon sequestration or reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. In addition, by expanding the forest area, of course, its ability to absorb carbon will be higher. The development of various ecosystems over millions of years has resulted in certain patterns of carbon flow in global ecosystems. However, human (anthropogenic) activities in the use of fossil fuels, conversion of forest land and others have resulted in changes in the exchange of carbon in the atmosphere, land and marine ecosystems. As a result of these activities, there was an increase in the concentration of CO2 into the atmosphere by 28% from the CO2 concentration that occurred more than 150 years ago.

Indonesia's swamplands, which are around 33 million ha, 20.6 million ha of which are peatlands. Most of the peatlands are spread across three major islands, namely Sumatra (35%), Kalimantan (32%), Papua (30%), Sulawesi (3%), and the rest (3%) is spread over a narrow area [4]. The role of peatland is important because it has a high carbon sequestration and is a natural resource that has a hydrorological function. The existing peatlands need to be protected from fire. Because if a fire occurs in the peat forest, it will cause large CO2 emissions and the resulting smoke will disrupt airlines and cause shortness of breath, etc. Peatlands play a major role in the development of agriculture, oil palm plantations or industrial plantations. For this reason, peatlands are managed with the principle of sustainable peatland management so that they can minimize environmental damage. Apart from peatlands, there are also mangrove forests that are found on the coast of the Indonesian archipelago which have a high carbon content known as blue carbon.

Peatlands planted with oil palm and acacia function as a carbon sequester through the photosynthetic process and carbon is stored as plant biomass. The carbon tethering process through the photosynthesis process is able to offset the loss of carbon stocks in the soil which are oxidized to CO2 gas emissions. However, if the expansion of oil palm plantations is excessive to the point where many natural forests are converted, it will have a negative impact on the biodiversity of the peatlands. The existing mangrove forests have also suffered a lot of damage because the area is used for the construction of ponds, excessive mangrove wood extraction and the large number of mangrove forests that have turned into settlements in coastal areas. The area of mangrove forests in Indonesia reaches 3.49 million ha but 52% or 1.82 million ha is in a damaged condition [5].

Carbon emissions from forest land including peat and mangrove forests generally fluctuate depending on many factors including climate, soil and hydrology. Environmental factors that greatly influence the amount of carbon

## *Opportunities and Challenges of Mitigation and Adaptation of Climate Change in Indonesia DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97027*

emissions, especially from peatlands, are temperature, soil moisture and electrical conductivity (EC) [6]. These three factors fluctuate greatly from day to day depending on climatic and hydrological factors, resulting in high fluctuations in carbon emissions [7, 8]. High carbon content in natural and plantation forests is usually found in forests where the potential for wood or wood volume unit (m3/ha) is also very high. Therefore, if an area is only used for seasonal plant development, of course the carbon content is low. The lowest carbon content is when forest land has been converted into urban areas with the development of housing, markets, offices, development of road networks and infrastructure. Even with the construction of urban areas with various tall buildings, it has triggered the emergence of a heat island. One of the safety valves so that forest areas can maintain carbon content is the application of the agroforestry system. This system is a cultivation in an area with a mixture of perennials and seasonal plants.

In an effort to increase the prosperity of a country, a lot of forest is transferred to other uses such as the development of oil palm plantations, agricultural land, livestock grazing and urban expansion etc. In fact, many agricultural lands have changed their function into settlements. If this happens, the forest area will continue to decrease again because after the agricultural land has turned into residential land, the forest land is converted again for agricultural expansion, this happens continuously. In other words, deforestation and forest degradation have triggered climate change.

If viewed from the CO2 flux, there will also be changes in the basic CO2 flux from forest land, plantation land, agriculture and urban areas. It is certain and inevitable that the forest area will decrease and be used for non-forestry development. One of the reasons is the increase in population which is difficult to control every year. Thus, changing a forest area to non-forest will have an impact on the lack of carbon sequestration as shown in **Figure 1**.

The conversion of forest land to non-forest land actually occurs as a result of economic motivation. For example, more forest land will be converted into oil palm plantations if the results of oil palm management turn out to be more profitable from an economic perspective. Therefore, forest management must endeavor to be able to generate more tangible benefits from non-forest uses.

#### **Figure 1.**

*The lower carbon sequestration of forest to non-forest areas. (a) Forests: very high carbon sequestration, (b) Agroforestry: high carbon sequestration, (c) Agricultural crops: low carbon sequestration, (d) Cities with infrastructure: very low carbon sequestration.*
