STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Nusantara National Capital Authority (NNCA) have concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that paves the way for collaboration on the planning and development of Nusantara as a carbon-neutral forest city.
Under the MOU, ADB and the Government of Indonesia have committed to collaborate on ensuring the planned new capital city of Nusantara is well-designed with a reduced environmental impact and a target to be net-zero by 2045.
The MOU further confirms joint efforts by ADB and the Government of Indonesia to mobilize financing from potential climate financing facilities and public–private partnerships to drive Nusantara’s inclusive and sustainable development.
The ongoing development of Indonesia’s new capital city, Nusantara, in eastern Borneo has raised alarm bells among environmentalists and human rights defenders around the world as the region is home to extraordinarily rich ecological and social resources.
Mongabay’s reporting has observed and captured the wider risks the development has created for the Bornean region, the worrying transformation of East Kalimantan province’s ecological hinterland, and also the additional pressures to the marine ecosystem of the province’s Balikpapan Bay.
Some of the findings in Mongabay’s reports prompted Myrna Asnawati Safitri, the deputy for environment and natural resources at the Nusantara Capital City Authority, to reach out for an exclusive interview with Mongabay reporter Basten Gokkon in Jakarta. Myrna was appointed to the agency in October 2022, having previously worked at the government’s Peatland Restoration Agency and before that the land-reform advocacy NGO Epistema Institute.
