REDD is a United Nations program that focuses on reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Recently a plus was added making it REDD+ to reflect the expanded focus of the program to include conservation, sustainable management of forests, and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
Because our group showed a lot of interest in talking to Mr. Prasetyo, when Mr. Johnson saw him next he asked if a meeting with our group would be possible. He said yes, and that Mr. Satya Tripathi, the REDD+ Director for Indonesia, would also be accompanying him. We immediately started thinking of questions to ask Mr. Prasetyo and researching all that we could about him. We were to meet him at 3:00 pm in the Conference Center Food Court. When he got there he was very friendly and insisted on buying us something to eat. After we all had our food we started our conversation.
Our group with Mr. Pasetyo (right) and Mr. Tripathi (second from right)
He first started out asking about our school because he was very intrigued that we went to an environmental high school. He asked us about our curriculum and also about the environment of Minnesota.
Mr. Prasetyo began by telling us that it all starts with us and what we do. We are the youth and even though it is difficult to think of our impact on the world, it is necessary. Mr. Tripathi told us about when he was a boy and first started to shave. He would leave the water running the entire time to wash his razor off. His mother told him that he should only turn on the water when he needed it and turn it off when he wasn't using it. He didn't believe that he was wasting water so his mother measured the amount of water he used keeping the water running and also the amount when he turned it on and off. When he turned the water on and off he used significantly less water than when he left it running. Because of this lesson, he has been turning the water off when he shaves ever since, and by his calculations, saved about 250,000 liters of water over his lifetime. He told us that we don't have to stop doing things, we just have to do them in a more environmentally friendly way.
I asked Mr. Prasetyo what his job was beyond his role as Co-Chair of the REDD+ Task Force. He got his degree in Industrial engineering and wanted to go into government work. His father told him there was no money in that type of work and that he would have to be corrupt to work with the government, but he wanted to help the people of Indonesia. He followed his father's advice and got a masters degree in business, later taking a job in the private sector, moving to an international consulting firm, and eventually rising to Managing Director of the company. He retired, and after taking some time off went to the public sector to fulfill his original goal of helping the people of Indonesia. He currently works as a deputy director for the President of Indonesia and part of his job is to oversee the development of a REDD National Implementation Plan for Indonesia.
When we asked Mr. Prasetyo about why REDD did not seem to be working as it was planned, he used an analogy between books becoming movies and progress in programs like REDD+ as they get put into action. He talked about how books that are turned into movies, like The Hobbit, have to either lose parts or have parts added for them to fit into a movie format. REDD and similar programs are like that as well because they start as a written plan but when they actually start to be implemented, people have to get rid of things and add things so that the program can work in the real world.
It was an amazing opportunity and I am grateful to Mr. Heru Prasetyo and Mr. Satya Tripathi for giving of their time to talk to us.
How amazing that they took such an interest in your school, your thoughts and took the time to share with you, a true educational experience.
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