Bummer in Indonesia: REDD carbon dioxide hoax swindle is failing

Credits lost in tangle of Aceh's forest

An Australian plan embraced by the world to save Indonesian forests and address climate change is failing, writes Michael Bachelard.

...Five years on, the silver bullet has misfired. The REDD schemes in Indonesia, funded with Howard's money, have come under serious criticism for overstating their aims and underachieving. The Greens leader, Christine Milne, recently labelled the largest of them a "total failure".

The private sector has fared even worse. Most of its schemes in Indonesia have faltered or fallen spectacularly, recriminations flying...

Anwar Ibrahim is a farmer and a mukim - the leader of several villages - in an area at the edge of the Ulu Masen conservation area. He sits with his family on the wooden floor of a hut in one of his paddocks near the village of Sayeng, chuckling. REDD, it seems, amuses him.

"They're talking about selling air! But it's not whether I agree or disagree with that expression, it's simply that it doesn't exist, it doesn't happen."

Ibrahim has attended multiple meetings - he counts 31 since 2007 - on the concept of REDD. At a recent meeting, they were warned solemnly about potential corruption in a program that does not even exist.

This area was the hardest hit of all in the 2004 tsunami, and non-government organisations of all sorts helped rebuild it. The only ones, Ibrahim says, whose advice has been worthless are the ones spruiking REDD.

"They invite people and then we all go and sleep in the Hermes [Banda Aceh's only luxury hotel] and, after that, nothing happens … It's useless. The story of REDD is just a lie."

Ibrahim is careful to make clear he wouldn't mind being paid to save the forests. He turns to me, grinning broadly, and says: "Australia! Send us your money!"