Nature-based Solutions for Climate Resilient Infrastructure Planning in Indonesia

KEY FINDINGS:

• Ecosystems most impacted by road infrastructure and settlement development provide significant benefits, supporting climate resilience for nearly half the population, 147 million people, and 68% of the road network, on just 16% of Indonesia’s lands.
• Evaluating all intact ecosystems nationwide that could support NbS benefits, conserving priority priority areas on 18% of Indonesia’s land area supports climate resilience for 113 million people and 44% of the road network.
• Restoring degraded forests found on just 11% of the country provides the best opportunities to invest in multiple NbS to enhance climate resilience, benefiting roughly half the population, 143 million people, and a little over half, 47,000 km or 53% of the road network..
• The majority of these priority areas are outside the protected area network, necessitating new regulatory approaches or land use management schemes for successful conservation or restoration efforts.
• There are, however, also immediate “win-win” opportunities for NbS investments under conservation or restoration inside protected areas and Key Biodiversity Areas that would simultaneously support climate resilience for people and infrastructure and biodiversity outcomes.
• These analyses can serve as valuable inputs to support NbS mainstreaming to achieve climate and biodiversity goals in national and subnational policies and their implementation, including in the Medium and Long-Term Development Plans and associated processes.
• Achieving this requires investments in training and capacity building programs at all levels across these ministries and key departments in how to assess and integrate NbS in infrastructure planning. WWF and the University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) have developed such training materials for this purpose under the SIPA project.
• To ensure maximum utility for planners across departments and ministries, maps and associated data should be integrated into existing key ministry and departmental web platforms and centralized national data and mapping platforms.