"There is no clear definition as to who owns the forests: Is it the nation, the people who live there or the investors who pay to conserve them? Without clear definitions, the carbon credits do not have clear ownership and the number of parties willing to pay to protect the forests may remain scarce," he said.
Countries with tropical forests have created alliances such as the Coalition of Rainforest Nations and regional and bilateral initiatives like the Heart of Borneo, which brings together Indonesia,Malaysia and Brunei, or the Global Initiative on Forests and Climate.
These are good examples of efforts to fight deforestation, but "all these efforts combined may still not be enough to combat the force of an economy yearning to prosper," Ardiansyah said.
"Australia may be investing millions in our forests, but at the same time, China is investing US$8 billion in our palm oil industry -- a victory of economic might over environmental protection," he said.
Citing WWF data, Ardiansyah said that rising economies such as China, with its population of 1.3 billion, had sent demand for commodities skyrocketing in recent years, with no signs of a slowdown in sight.
The key to reducing deforestation may be to increase land-use consistency, he said.
"By adopting a cross-sectoral approach to forest management -- fostering greater policy coherence amongst agriculture, forestry and energy sectors -- we can establish, for example, a maximum capacity of commodities that a given amount of land can produce depending on its location," he said.
Agricultural developments should also be employed to ensure the productivity of existing farm land is maximized to avoid further loss of forests, he said.
No matter what methods are employed, effective policy will require "urgent and international action, pricing for damage from greenhouse gases, support for technology development and combatting deforestation."
Ardiansyah quoted the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, a 700-page report published in 2006 for the British government by economist Nicholas Stern, former chief economist and senior vice president of the World Bank.
"Improving land management and reducing deforestation is highly cost-effective and significant in reducing [greenhouse gas] emissions," Ardiansyah said, citing Stern.
"And think about it, on top of carbon emission reductions, forests are also good for the ecosystem, sustaining a solid biodiversity and keeping the soil and water nutritious and clean. That's killing a lot of birds with one stone," he said.
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