BIODIVERSITY-EQUITABLE RENEWABLE ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT
WWF-Indonesia supports PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) in realizing an environmentally and socially just energy transition. In this case, the cooperation between the two parties is specifically in the scope of infrastructure, especially renewable energy power plants to meet best practices in aspects of biodiversity.
This cooperation is manifested in the development of a biodiversity management plan or BMP. The document comprehensively outlines how to identify the project site, how to collect primary and secondary data from biodiversity, to how to create an action plan for biodiversity that intersects with project activities.
As a follow-up, last October, the BMP was tested in one of the power plant project areas that is in the early stages of construction on the island of Sumatra. The BMP was designed in the spirit that it could be practiced directly by the team in direct contact with the project. The pilot went smoothly by operationalizing the BMPs that had been developed to see how they matched theory and practice in the field.
During the pilot, training was also conducted for technical teams in the field related to biodiversity. Among others, the process of identifying animal corridor paths, how to install camera traps for primary data collection, and how to monitor the distribution of biodiversity around infrastructure development project sites.
The BMP is expected to be a guide for biodiversity management in PLN. As a step forward, both parties agreed to continue mainstreaming aspects of biodiversity by increasing PLN's internal capacity, especially in aspects of renewable energy infrastructure development as an effort to accelerate an equitable energy transition in Indonesia.