Tito Summa Siahaan – While the Indonesia government is being applauded for introducing the world's first carbon credit mechanism, the country's civil society organizations believe the initiative is missing several key details that will derail the mechanism's real purpose to protect the environment.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that the government has set aside some 80,000 hectares of protected rainforest that will reward investors with tradable carbon credits. The announcement was made during the UN Climate Change Conference in Doha, Qatar.

The area, called Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve, has won the backing of several giant multinationals, like Russia's state-owned gas firm Gazprom and insurer Allianz. Some civil society groups, though, were critical of the government's decision.

Anggalia Putri Permatasari, a program officer for the Association for Community and Ecology-Based Law Reform (HuMa), said the government has yet to establish a clear distinction between local people and indigenous people, who should possess the rights to their traditional lands and the forest areas on those lands.

"Notwithstanding that, Rimba Raya is located in Central Kalimantan, one of the provinces with the high number of agrarian conflicts," she added. The government, Anggalia went on, has also undermined the whole process of multilateral talks at the Doha conference by announcing an initiative not related to the main issue.

Speaking via a conference call from Doha, Teguh Surya, the head of the international department at the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi), said that although the government has made its goal to secure some $10 billion in climate funds – $1 billion of which comes from the Norwegian government – it is evident from the country's delegation to the conference that Indonesia still lacks specific goals and strategies.

Teguh said the Indonesian government has shown a reluctance to support alternative proposals, which he dubbed as more progressive, from southern hemisphere countries in the climate talks.