Gov’t confirms funding for El Nino response sufficient

3 hours ago

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Indonesian government ensured sufficient funding to address the impacts of El Nino in the country, according to an official of the Ministry of National Development Planning.

“Government funding is currently adequate. The key challenge is ensuring that its allocation is appropriate and aligned with the urgent needs for managing El Nino’s impact. This has already been discussed at a limited cabinet meeting,” the ministry’s Deputy for Food, Natural Resources, and the Environment, Leonardo A.A. Teguh, said on Tuesday (August 4).

One strategic measure proposed by the ministry to mitigate the impacts of El Nino is to expand financing sources by optimizing domestic funding, climate finance, disaster pooling funds, adaptation funds, the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), and other innovative financing instruments.

Teguh said there is no specific climate financing dedicated solely to El Nino as the phenomenon is cyclical in nature.

According to him, climate financing is generally directed toward supporting adaptation measures outlined in the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) while strengthening ecosystem functions through the Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP).

“More financing is being directed toward those areas, such as upstream initiatives and the implementation of established programs. If these programs contribute to improving our capacity to address El Nino, that becomes significant,” he said.

The NAP is a strategic planning process and document designed to identify, prioritize, and address medium and long-term risks associated with climate change.

Meanwhile, the BSAP serves as an official guideline document for the protection, stewardship, and wise use of nature, flora, and fauna.

The government has also formulated a policy brief for four key development clusters to address and manage the risks posed by the strong El Nino phenomenon.

The document identifies risks, maps the distribution of impacts, and formulates response directions across the four key development clusters: the forest, land, and agriculture cluster; energy and water resources; health; and the aquatic food cluster.