Research highlights from the GGKP’s Third Annual Conference – Q&A with Ambiyah Abdullah

From 29-30 January 2015, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) hosted the GGKP's Third Annual Conference on the theme of "Fiscal Policies and the Green Economy Transition: Generating Knowledge – Creating Impact" in Venice, Italy.   

Ambiyah Abdullah's paper 'Assessing the impact of fiscal policies in green forestry and renewable energy sectors on poverty reduction and job creation in Indonesia' was presented at the GGKP's Annual Conference on January 29 in the session 'B2: Fiscal policy reform for an inclusive green economy'. Ambiyah is a Researcher at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES).

Q&A with Ambiyah Abdullah

1.   Briefly describe the topic and conclusion of your paper.

My paper focuses on fiscal policies implemented by the Indonesian government in green forestry and renewable energy sectors, and examines their positive impacts on poverty reduction and job creation in the country. The paper concludes that by using the inter-regional social accounting matrix analysis, it can be determined that fiscal policies implemented by the Indonesian government in green forestry and renewable energy sectors did indeed have positive impacts on poverty reduction and job creation in both rural and urban areas in Sumatera, Kalimantan and Papua. It also indicates that fiscal policies on green forestry and renewable energy have a positive impact on income distribution within the regions of Indonesia.

2.   Through your research, what do you find as the role for fiscal policy in the transition to a green economy? 

The analysis results in my paper demonstrate that fiscal policies implemented by the Indonesian government on green forestry and renewable energy sectors had positive impacts on poverty reduction and job creation.  This indicates that fiscal policy has a role to support the smooth transition to a green economy.

3.   What are the key policy implications of your research? 

Below are the key policy implications of my current research on fiscal policies in the green forestry and renewable energy sectors in Indonesia:

• The Indonesian government should strengthen the role of other regions outside Java and Bali to support the implementation of fiscal policies and the transition to a green economy successfully.
• There is a need to carefully re-design and evaluate how the local governments spending structure in each region in Indonesia can support the investment into green sectors in the country.
• It is necessary to implement a policy instrument or mechanism to redistribute in a fair way the positive impacts of fiscal policies in green sectors of Indonesia.  This will enhance the positive impacts that fiscal policies in green sectors have on poverty reduction and job creation.

4.   What do you hope to gain from the GGKP’s 3rd Annual Conference?

I hope to learn more about how fiscal policies could be successfully managed to support the transition into green economy both theoretically and practically.

5.   Which session at the conference are you interested in attending and why? (See programme here).

I am interested in attending the session on 'Effective fiscal policy design for green growth'. I think this session will provide practical information that can be used when designing effective fiscal policy to support the transition into green economy in practice.

6.   What are the next steps for your research? 

I would like to extend my research by examining the ways in which fiscal policies can a play positive role in the theme of Indonesia's international trade and the green sectors.