Indonesia possesses some of the world’s largest remaining tropical forests and peatlands – resources essential for both global biodiversity and climate stability. However, these ecosystems have faced mounting pressure from deforestation, unsustainable land use, and peatland degradation, making Indonesia one of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters, with over 80% of its emissions linked to land use change and forestry.
To address these urgent challenges and transition towards a more low-carbon development pathway, the Forestry, Land Use and Governance (FLAG) Programme was launched by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) as a three-year (2015–2018), £32.5 million initiative. FLAG aimed to support Indonesia’s efforts to reduce forest and peatland loss by strengthening land use governance, promoting cross-sectoral partnerships, and driving reforms for more transparent, sustainable, and low-carbon resource management. The programme directly contributed to global priorities on climate mitigation, low-carbon sustainable development, and poverty reduction by empowering Indonesian stakeholders with better tools, information, and incentives to manage forests and land more sustainably.
This project supported climate mitigation by contributing to the lowering of emissions from deforestation and peatland degradation through improved land use governance, sustainable resource management, and strengthened institutional capacity in one of the world’s most critical carbon sink regions, accelerating a shift toward a low-carbon future for Indonesia.
Our Role
As the Evaluation Management Unit (EMU) for the FLAG Programme, we led the design and roll-out of an evaluation framework central to effective delivery and learning. Robust monitoring and evaluation systems were developed to address FLAG’s complex, multi-stakeholder objectives – driving evidence-based decision-making to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote low-carbon land use practices, and curb deforestation in Indonesia.
The framework integrated quantitative and qualitative data collection, real-time progress tracking, and comprehensive outcome assessments across all programme components. This enabled timely analysis of which interventions were most effective – not only in tackling deforestation and peatland degradation, but also in advancing Indonesia’s transition to a low-carbon land use sector. Critical governance, finance, and policy levers were also identified as essential for systemic, climate-resilient change.
We ensured that evaluations were closely aligned with DFID and UK Government priorities on climate mitigation, low-carbon pathways, and poverty reduction. By enabling adaptive management and generating actionable insights, the work strengthened FLAG’s accountability, learning, and impact – supporting Indonesia’s long-term low-carbon development agenda.
