Asia 2014: Day 5 Recap
On July 20, 2014, President Clinton travelled to Pangkalan Bun in Indonesian Borneo where he visited Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) projects during his trip through Asia.
CCI was established in 2006 to create and advance solutions to the root causes of climate change. Among its programs, CCI facilitates deployment of clean energy technology at the government, corporate and homeowner levels, as well as reverses the effects of global climate change by conserving and re-growing forests. In Indonesia, CCI has worked with partners to conserve forests, protect biodiversity, and support local communities since 2008 by establishing Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) carbon credit projects. As a result of CCI’s support, the Rimba Raya REDD+ project has issued more than 10 million carbon credits and delivered over 6 million of these to buyers in Europe and the United States, including Allianz and Microsoft Corp. This was the first successful REDD+ project in Indonesia, and one of only a few such projects globally.
In Indonesia, CCI has expanded REDD+ to nine projects across the country, covering a forested area of over 700,000 hectares (more than twice the size of Yosemite National Park in California).
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While visiting Indonesia, President Clinton explored the Tanjung Puting National Park that is adjacent to several of the forest areas which CCI has worked to conserve. In the park, President Clinton and the delegation spent time at Camp Leakey, an orangutan research center established in 1971 by the well-known primatologist researcher Dr. Biruté Galdikas. Here, President Clinton facilitated a discussion with partners from several of CCI’s projects who are working tirelessly not only to conserve the forest and orangutan habitat, but also working closely with forest-dependent local communities on alternative sustainable livelihoods and forest protection strategies.
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The delegation also visited the Orangutan Foundation International’s Care Center and Quarantine, where hundreds of orphaned and injured orangutans are being rehabilitated and nursed back to health before reentering the wild. Some of these orangutans will be released into the CCI-supported Rimba Raya REDD+ project site.
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Visiting these sites allowed President Clinton and his delegation to better understand efforts made on the ground towards conserving forests, protecting biodiversity and improving the lives of communities. Working together with local partners around the world and in the United States, CCI will continue to tackle the issue of climate change to protect this and future generations.
