Munene, the journey...

Directorate General of Climate Change We began our day at 9am, with a drive to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to meet with Indonesia's lead climate change negotiator. Directorates of Mapping, Climate Change 2020: 26% emission reduction (unconditional); 41% with international support Forestry Rehabilitation of degraded lands Peatlands restoration Social forestry includes REDD+ and non-REDD+ National registry systems on climate change: by 2020 Provides data and info to the public about actions Currently voluntary, but will be mandatory by 2020 Verification: ???? How is that Fugitive energy emission: from transmission Achievement so far Little assistance in form of grants; so it's difficult Not achievable by 2030 We met fellows of the Thamrin City located in the Sarinah Mall

We spent the day at CIFOR where we met with a couple of people and discussed different aspects of forestry conservation: Forest fires: cheapest way to convert secondary forests into oil palm plantations Value of forest fire conversion is much higher than any potential benefit from using other method Forests are improving and stabilizing Cycles of burning affects Malaysia and Singapore; nothing done: policy is reactive Costs $47b due to haze Swidden Ancient practice for restoring soil fertility It has been sustainable, all along; not the cause of the haze?? 3-4 years' cycle Sustainable palm oil:  EU report on Indonesian palm oil not being sustainable Tension btn US/EU priorities on sustainability, with agenda of Indonesia on development REDD+ policy: struggle because of financial flow problems Policy in Brazil not automatically transferrable because of the different contexts Subnation...

Lake Toba We left Lekjon Cottages at 9.30am, aboard our ferry to the mainland of Danau Toba. We then boarded the bus to Medan. We got to Medan around 2pm. We checked into our Jakarta-bound flight at Kualanamu airport at 3pm, and grabbed lunch at an airport eatery. We departed Medan for Jakarta around 5pm. And here we are. From Jakarta, we bussed to Bogor where we stayed at a really nice hotel for the night.

We spent most of new year's eve in transit. We left Ibis Styles Hotel at 10.30am, got to Jakarta international airport, got our tickets to Denpasar (in Bali) and left for Bali about 2.30pm (about 30mins late due to air traffic density at the airport) In transit at Jakarta Airport domestic departures; after check-in on the way to Denpasar Photobombed by Tom Hilde and Tom Jones We arrived in Denpasar around 7pm, where we met with Sunday who had arranged our transportation to Ubud. It took us the next hour and a half weaving through ever narrowing roadways towards Ubud, which is our home for the next six days. The driving in Bali immediately reminded me of Nairobi. Traffic wasn’t too bad, but driving a car involved checking both sides of the mirror because scooters, mopeds and motorbikes weave in and out of lanes at breakneck speed, with little warning or caution. Further, while passing huge vehicles like buses and lorries, our drive honked twice to let the other car know...

With Renuka at IAD before departure for Doha Our journey began at IAD at close to 3pm on Dec. 28. I met up with a couple of my fellow travelers at the airport, including Renuka, Tom Jones, Noah, Jackson. On transit in Doha We got to on Dec. 30 Indonesia about 7 am, on time, aboard the Qatar Airways flight 958 from Doha, Qatar. Duty free cars in Doha! Passport control, baggage claim and passing through customs was a breeze. It took us no more than 20 minutes to alight the aircraft and meet Matt Regan, who had arrived a day earlier, to prepare the way for us. And prepare he did. A section of Soekarno-Hatta Airport di Jakarta Matt gave us the brief on what to do, and how to do it. We withdrew cash from ATM (Matt recommended 1 million rupiah!!!). It felt like a lot, but it turned out to be about $74 bucks (with the conversion being $1 = 13,500 rupiah). The notes were in 50,000s or 100,000s crispy ones. We then got into taxis a...