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Last week, the Climate Parliament was proud to co-host a delegation of Indonesian legislators from the Green Economy Caucus of the Indonesian Parliament on a capacity-building visit to London.
The group, which included MPs from across the Indonesian political spectrum, was welcomed to the UK by the Department of International Development (DfID), in order to learn from the UK experience of green growth strategy and policy, including the role of legislation and legislators in implementing a green economy in Indonesia. Following Indonesian parliamentary and Presidential elections in 2014, and the importance of 2015 as the year when all nations will agree a global framework to tackle climate change, this visit also provided an opportunity to re-galvanise Indonesia’s Green Economy Caucus through knowledge-sharing and network-building.
Indonesia has achieved impressive economic growth over recent years amidst the global downturn. However, just like many other countries around the world, measuring this performance in purely economic terms ignores Indonesia’s over-reliance on the exploitation of natural resources and the related environmental degradation. Therefore, in order to achieve long-term, sustainable economic growth, Indonesia needs to integrate environmental considerations into its economic policy making by forming policies that are "pro- growth, pro-jobs, pro-poor and pro-environment". The Parliament of the Republic of Indonesia plays a central role in defining the future growth strategy of the country by exercising its legislative, budgeting and oversight functions, and MPs therefore have a vital role to play.
In order to bring together legislators from across the political spectrum to discuss these critical issues, a Green Economy Caucus has been established . The GEC provides Indonesian legislators with a platform to explore the green economy concept further. The caucus convenes legislators from each of the political parties and the relevant parliamentary commissions in order to explore where there is cross-party support for policies that support green and inclusive growth.
The Climate Parliament is currently exploring collaboration options with the GEC, and we hope to be able to expand our global network of legislators to include Indonesian in the near future.