Mainstreaming Climate Adaptation in Indonesia Through Planning Frameworks

Challenge

Indonesia must integrate climate adaptation across sectors and timeframes so that development plans respond to rising climate risks and align with long-term resilience goals.

Solution

Indonesia’s Ministry of National Development Planning uses adaptation frameworks to embed climate considerations in development plans and coordinate how ministries address climate risks.

Overview

Indonesia has worked to integrate climate change adaptation into its national development planning over the past two decades. The Ministry of National Development Planning (BAPPENAS) is at the center of this effort and uses a series of strategic policy frameworks to guide how adaptation priorities enter core development plans.

Indonesia’s National Development Planning System (Sistem Perencanaan Pembangunan Nasional, or SPPN) requires 20-year long-term development plans (RPJPs), five-year medium-term development plans (RPJMs), and annual development plans (RKPs) at the national level. Among these, the national medium-term plans (RPJMNs) are especially influential. They set out Indonesia’s development context, reflect presidential priorities, and incorporate international commitments, which then shape national objectives and budget priorities.

To ensure that climate adaptation becomes part of this planning system, BAPPENAS has developed and used several national frameworks that link climate policy with development planning. These documents have evolved over time and are used to connect climate adaptation priorities with Indonesia’s broader development agenda.

Indonesia’s national adaptation planning documents

The National Action Plan for Addressing Climate Change (RAN-PI) in 2007 was Indonesia’s first major national document on climate change. This was followed in 2009 by the Indonesia Climate Change Sectoral Roadmap (ICCSR), which guided sectoral adaptation efforts and influenced the national medium-term development plans for 2004–2009 and 2010–2014.

Recognizing that climate impacts cut across sectors, the government prepared the National Action Plan for Climate Change Adaptation (RAN-API) for 2014–2024. This plan supported a more cross-sectoral view of adaptation and helped shape the 2015–2019 national medium-term development plan. As climate risks became more complex and long-term, Indonesia then adopted Climate Resilience Development (CRD) 2020–2045, a long-term integrated strategy that now guides the 2020–2024 national medium-term plan and will inform the 2025–2029 plan.

These documents show a shift from an initial action plan, to a sectoral roadmap, to a broad adaptation plan, and then to a long-term climate resilience strategy that sits alongside core development planning.

Central role of BAPPENAS in adaptation planning

Among the institutions involved in climate adaptation, BAPPENAS has a central role in shaping national strategies. The ministry prepares development plans and budgets, coordinates input from other ministries, and sets national priorities.

Three main factors explain this position. First, adaptation mainstreaming in Indonesia happens at a macro level. Second, national adaptation priorities closely link with broader development goals. And third, BAPPENAS has partial authority over how some international loans and grants for adaptation are allocated.

Using evolving frameworks to coordinate ministries

National climate change adaptation policies involve many stakeholders that have overlapping roles and different interests. In Indonesia, two national government entities have historically had leading roles in the adaptation agenda: BAPPENAS and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF). BAPPENAS drafts development plans and budgets, gathers stakeholder input, and sets national priorities. MoEF is responsible for policy implementation and for making sure that adaptation measures follow agreed frameworks.

BAPPENAS is mandated to facilitate stakeholder engagement and coordinate adaptation planning among ministries. At the same time, the national medium‑term plans follow a structured, rigid planning process. To work within this structure, BAPPENAS has used frameworks such as ICCSR, RAN API, and CRD to bring adaptation into the national medium‑term plans. These frameworks create space for regular dialogue among national stakeholders and give ministries a shared reference for climate adaptation.

For adaptation planning, BAPPENAS must coordinate 19 ministries that have different interests and sector responsibilities. The evolving frameworks that feed into the national medium‑term plans give these ministries a place to align their views while keeping national adaptation planning coherent. As BAPPENAS refines these frameworks over time, it strengthens its role as the main institution for adaptation planning and keeps climate adaptation as part of Indonesia’s national development agenda.

Acknowledgements

This report draws on documents published by the Ministry of National Development Planning of the Republic of Indonesia (BAPPENAS) and on research examining how sustainability and climate policies are mainstreamed in Indonesia. Acknowledgements are extended to BAPPENAS and the contributing authors for their analysis and insights, which provided a strong basis for describing Indonesia’s adaptation strategies and climate resilience efforts.

Related information

• Executive Summary – Climate Resilience Development Policy 2020-2024
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• Indonesia CRD documents page
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• Indonesia ICCSR Policy Paper
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