FACTSHEET

Learning by doingThe Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership

Introduction REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) is an approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by financially and technically supporting developing countries based on the value of the carbon stored in their forest ecosystems. REDD+ also promotes sustainable forest management, the conservation of forests and the enhancement of carbon stocks in forest ecosystems. There is, as yet, no formal mechanism for REDD+ under international conventions or agreements. In the meantime, REDD+ demonstration activities

have started up around the world. These activities are testing approaches to achieving sustainable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, while improving the wellbeing of forest-dependent communities.

Background Indonesia has around 22.5 million hectares of tropical peat swamp forests, about half the global total. Some estimates hold that the trees in peat swamp forests can store up to 140 tonnes of carbon per hectare and the carbon-rich peat soils beneath the forests are believed to store more than 20 times the carbon in above-ground vegetation. Over the past two decades, many of these forests have been drained, deforested and burned, mostly to make way for agricultural plantations. The result has been a major increase in greenhouse gas emissions from Indonesia.

KFCP is taking place along the Kapuas River in Central Kalimantan.

The Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership In June 2008, the President of Indonesia and the Prime Minister of Australia announced the Indonesia-Australia Forest Carbon Partnership (IAFCP) to set a framework for cooperation on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. The IAFCP’s Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership (KFCP) was the first large-scale REDD+ demonstration activity in Indonesia and the largest anywhere to take place on tropical peatlands.

The KFCP project is being implemented on 120 000 hectares in the Kapuas district of Central Kalimantan in an area where large tracts of land were drained and cleared for the Mega-Rice Project in the 1990s. Relatively intact peat swamp forest covers the northern half of the site, while the southern half is a mix of logged over and degraded peatlands. The area is sparsely populated, with about 9000 residents – mostly indigenous Ngaju Dayak people – living in nine villages made up of 14 settlements along the Kapuas River.

According to the National Board of Statistics, about 38 percent of the people in Kapuas District live below the poverty level. Water quality and poor sanitation cause serious health problems, as do the periodic episodes of smoke haze caused by peat fires in the dry season. Communities in the KFCP zone cultivate food crops and rubber on mineral soils and shallow peat areas close to the river, supplementing their income by collecting non-timber forest products, fishing and mining for gold in the river.

Progress to date Ensuring the full engagement and support of all of the communities on the demonstration site has been a major accomplishment, made possible through the negotiation of formal agreements between KFCP and the villages in the KFCP zone. These agreements aim to align village development goals with emissions reductions and sustainable development objectives. They provide an institutional framework for sharing benefits with local communities in return for carrying out REDD+ activities on community lands, under their own management and governance arrangements. The agreements are aligned with village development plans to ensure that the project fully responds to community needs. Special efforts have been made to ensure the participation of women and marginalised groups in the activities.

As REDD+ evolves and demonstrations progress, forest-rich developing countries can be supported and rewarded for protecting, restoring and sustainably managing their forests, but only if they can show credible evidence that emissions from deforestation and forest degradation have indeed been reduced as a result of their policies and actions. KFCP is developing a rigorous methodology and field procedures for estimating greenhouse emissions from tropical peat swamp forests. Monitoring teams, which include community members, measure and monitor the hydrology, peat conditions and fire incidence in the project area on a monthly basis using operating procedures developed by the project.

KFCP is supporting the establishment of nurseries throughout the project area. Thirty nurseries are currently operating in 14 settlements.

The KFCP strategy for demonstrating how the deforestation and degradation of the peat swamp forest can be reduced places a priority on mitigating peat fires. Land users routinely use fire to clear land for agriculture and for commercial crops, such as rubber and oil palm, as well as for other purposes. For the people in the KFCP area, fire is an easy method of clearing land, marking ownership and easing access to resources but it can be risky, particularly in times of drought. More careful use of fire and the prevention of unwanted fires, particularly in deep peat areas, can greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The project is working with communities to block canals in the KFCP area in order to raise the water table and rewet the peat, thereby reducing peat decomposition along with the incidence and spread of fire. Wetting the peat is the only way to prevent or extinguish peat fires, which, in dry conditions, can burn underground for long periods of time, releasing large quantities of smoke and greenhouse gases. Community members are placing compacted peat dams and wooden palisades, inter-planted with aquatic vegetation, at regular intervals along the canals to block and slow water flows.

KFCP is re-establishing forest cover in degraded areas by replanting trees and encouraging the natural regeneration of previously forested areas. To date, about 30 nurseries have been established and are being managed by communities in all participating villages. Community-based groups planted more than 1.3 million seedlings in 2011 and an additional 1.3 million seedlings are being raised in the nurseries for planting during the wet season of 2012/13.

Improving people’s livelihoods to alleviate poverty and reduce pressure on the forests and peatlands is an important objective for KFCP. The project is providing high quality rubber seedlings to families in the project area. Alternatively, farmers may choose to be furnished with fishponds or provided with support for agroforestry. Farmer field schools train the farmers in methods of harvesting, post-harvesting and marketing rubber to improve product quality and gain access to higher prices and credit. The farmer field schools are also training the farmers in sustainable forest management, fire management and agroforestry.

Conclusions KFCP aims to demonstrate approaches to REDD+ that can reduce emissions while improving local livelihoods, contributing to the ongoing scientific research on peat and REDD+ and supporting the increased institutional and technical readiness of communities and local governments to lead this work into the future. It is a challenging task. Knowledge gained from KFCP seeks to provide guidance to Indonesia, Australia and the international community as they endeavour to develop equitable, efficient and effective ways to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

KFCP provides payments to community members for the work that they do and this is important. But it is also very important to see how the forest benefits from our work. I think this project is having a good impact on both the community and the forest.

M. Adut, Katunjung Village. October 2012

M. Adut is helping to implement KFCP in Katunjung Village.

Pembangunan Tanpa Merusak Lingkungan | Development Without Destruction of the Environment

Detailed map of the KFCP project area