Program Overview

WRI Indonesia is an independent research organization that turns big ideas into action at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity, and human well-being. At WRI Indonesia, we aim to bring innovations in research and business approaches in order to create the enabling conditions for Indonesia to achieve robust economic growth while respecting environmental and social values. We seek to contribute to the accomplishment of ambitious sustainable development goals through working with leaders in public and private sectors, as well as collaborating with civil society organizations, in turning big ideas into action.

Within our Food, Land, and Water (FLW) Program, we envision critical ecosystems such as forests and peatland across Indonesia to be governed fairly and sustainably. We believe sustainable land use management is key for Indonesia to meet its climate goal, in line with keeping the global climate target below the 1.5 degree Celcius warming threshold, while providing sustainable livelihoods to forest-dependent communities and conserve biodiversity in the landscape. We intend to achieve this through safeguarding the remaining forest and peatland from deforestation, degradation, and fragmentation; maintaining forests and peatland quality through sound stewardship; and restoring degraded ecosystem to improve its productivity, conservation value, and ecosystem services.

Southeast Asia Climate and Nature-based Solution (SCeNe) Coalition

WRI Indonesia has joined with 7 other NGOs to form the Southeast Asia Climate and Nature-based Solution (SCeNe) Coalition in recognition of the scale of action required, the time-bound opportunity for impact and the risks to people and nature if we do not act collaboratively to speed up and scale up design and implementation of high-integrity and high- quality NbS. The extensive experience of these environmental NGOs in the development and execution of NbS offers a powerful, shared platform to inform and influence this rapidly growing sector. In the first three years, the Coalition will focus on three inter-connected workstreams that together will scale NbS in the region: i) define the opportunities of where ‘triple benefit’ NbS investment should be made; ii) showcase high-integrity projects to inspire others; and iii) support national and local organizations to access carbon finance and secure funds for conservation.

The SCeNe Coalition is aimed to develop Triple Benefit Tools and Website for Southeast Asia Climate and Nature-based Solution (SCeNe) Coalition. Triple Benefit Tool will help to identify the high impact of future NbS opportunities, ensuring a targeted pipeline of NbS supply that focuses on geographies with the highest conservation, social development and carbon potential. This tool will also help to validate triple benefit quality, giving the projects additional scientific credibility; to ensure finance is flowing transparently; and to increase ecosystem participation.

RIMBA Project

WRI Indonesia is currently supporting the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (ATR/BPN) in implementing the RIMBA Ecosystem Connectivity project in three forest landscape clusters in Riau, Jambi, and West Sumatra. This project aims to develop the framework and pilot implementation of Payment Watershed Services (PWS) for forest ecosystem enhancement throughout the crucial RIMBA Corridor in Jambi. The research will focus on water governance and policies and the development of financing model jurisdictional PWS. On specific sites such as Kerinci, Sungai Penuh, and Merangin, we will conduct socio economic research on Willingness to Pay (WTP) and Willingness to Accept (WTP) on water ecosystem services for household’s basis and business scale integrated with hydrology modelling and econometric valuation. This research is crucial for creating informed, effective, and equitable environmental policies and practices. This will also provide valuable insights into the economic, social, and behavioral aspects of water resource management, helping to balance the needs of ecosystems with those of communities and other relevant stakeholders.

Furthermore, capacity building for water multi-stakeholders must be prioritised at indicated locations. This will employ an action learning methodology, commencing with thorough stakeholder mapping and a Training Needs Assessment (TNA). The capacity building seeks to promote PWS as a sustainable economic model and to implement Participatory Land Use Planning (PLUP). The implementation in Social Forestry (SF) areas will be modified in accordance with the SF strategy particularly concerning forest protection and restoration. A map of potential SF may be required to strengthen PWS and PLUP.

Job Highlight

Forestry Analyst for PES will focus on socio economic studies and stakeholder engagement to pilot the PWS frameworks as well as enhance the Nature-based Solution (NbS) Tool for the Southeast Asia Climate and Nature-based Solution (SCeNe) Coalition and broader research on Nature - based Solutions (NbS) with focus on integrating hydrological data to improve climate adaptation and community resilience. The responsibilities include mapping water multi stakeholders, conducting WTA/WTA analysis on the household basis and business actors/ users, conducting the development of PWS economy models (such as econometric valuation and cost benefit analysis), and conducting the capacity building for optimizing the pilot of PWS frameworks. Additionally, this position will support the RIMBA Ecosystem Connectivity