carbon stocks on land subject to indonesia’s forest ... · minor discrepancies between the pi...

Carbon Stocks on Land Subject to Indonesia’s Forest Moratorium1

Earl C. Saxon (Union of Concerned Scientists)2 and Stuart M. Sheppard

Abstract

In May, 2011, Indonesia’s Presidential Instruction 10/2011 (PI) established a two year moratorium on issuing new leases and concessions over those primary forests and peat lands that are not already subject to leases or concessions.

Two months later, the Ministry of Forestry (MoF) released Indicative Moratorium Maps (IMM) intended to facilitate implementation of the PI. However, they include land that the PI does not affect, such as extensive protection and conservation forests without primary forest or peat land as well as some forest leases and concessions on primary forest or peat land. The IMM also excludes some forest and peat land that is subject to the PI.

We aggregated the best available spatial data on the PI, IMM, administrative forest zones, land cover, leases and concessions, slope, peat depth, biomass carbon and peat carbon. We then quantified the area and carbon stocks associated with those primary forests and peat lands that are afforded additional protection by the PI.

We found that most primary forests and peat lands not already subject to leases and concessions are not afforded additional protection by the PI. Under Indonesian rules, areas with legal conservation status, peat more than 3m deep or slopes greater than 40% are already exempt from new leases or concessions (UNEP/GRID-Arendal, 2011).

The suspension on issuing new leases and concessions by the PI applies to 42.6 million hectares, of which 39.7 are inside the boundary mapped by the IMM and 2.8 are outside it. The PI affords additional protection to 13.7 million hectares of primary forest and peat lands, particularly those with peat <3m thick. These primary forests and peat lands contain 7% of Indonesia’s biomass carbon and 19% of its peat carbon.

We identify opportunities to improve the scope and management of the moratorium. First, the next government review of the IMM should better align it with the areas actually subject to the PI. Second, extending the PI to include 1.2 million hectares of presently unprotected secondary forests without leases or concessions would boost the moratorium area by 8.6%. Third, rationalizing lease and concession boundaries could protect carbon stocks on those high-carbon primary forests, peat lands and secondary forests currently excluded from the moratorium.

1 An earlier version of this Technical Report had incorrect numbers in the Total column on Table 4a. 2 Address for correspondence [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Saxon & Sheppard Carbon Stocks on Land Subject to Indonesia’s Forest Moratorium

01/25/2012 2

Introduction

In May 2011, Indonesia’s President formally instructed3 relevant authorities as follows.

The Indicative Maps for Suspension on New Licenses at 1:19,000,000 scale appended to the Presidential Instruction has been superseded by detailed Indicative Moratorium Maps (IMM) issued two months later at 1:250,000 scale. They do not simply illustrate the land subject to the Presidential Instruction. The IMM also include all of Indonesia’s land already designated for conservation or protection, including secondary forests and non-forest lands not subject to the PI.

This considerably increases the apparent area of the Moratorium, but does not change its effect on land management, as protection and conservation areas were already exempt from new leases or concessions. Minor discrepancies between the PI text and the IMM are due to the latter’s inconsistent treatment of those primary forest or peat lands that are subject to leases or concessions.

For the sake of clarity, we use the terms “subject” and “not subject” when referring to Moratorium status as prescribed by the text of the Presidential Instruction and the terms “inside” and “outside” when referring to its status as indicated by the 1:250.000 scale Indicative Moratorium Maps. The relationship among categories created by comparing the two sources of information is set out schematically below.

3 Bahasa Indonesia text and map are available at http://sipuu.setkab.go.id/PUUdoc/17176/INPRES0102011.pdf. English translation provided by Daemeter Consulting is available at http://www.daemeter.org/wp-content/files/INPRES-10_2011__EN.pdf.

FIRST: Take necessary steps according to their respective task, function, and authority to

support the suspension on granting of new licenses in primary natural forest and peat land in conservation forest, protected forest, production forest (limited production forest, regular/permanent production forest, conversion forest) and areas for other uses as in the Indicative Map for Suspension on New Licenses that is a Presidential Instruction Appendix.

SECOND: Suspension on granting new licenses mentioned in the First Dictum applies to the utilization of primary natural forest and peat land with the exception of: a. Application granted with principle approval from the Minister of Forestry; b. Implementation of vital national development, i.e.: geothermal, oil and natural gas, electricity, land for rice and sugarcane; c. Extension of existing permits for forest exploitation and/or forestry area utilization as long as the business license remains valid; and d. Ecosystem restoration.

http://sipuu.setkab.go.id/PUUdoc/17176/INPRES0102011.pdf

http://www.daemeter.org/wp-content/files/INPRES-10_2011__EN.pdf

http://www.daemeter.org/wp-content/files/INPRES-10_2011__EN.pdf


01/25/2012 3

Four Categories of Moratorium Status

Presidential Instruction 10/2011 Subject Not Subject

Indicative Moratorium Maps

Inside

1. All Primary Forests or Peat Lands without leases or concessions

3. Secondary Forests and Other Land Covers4 inside Protected Forests and Conservation Areas, as well as some Primary Forests or Peat Lands with leases or concessions

Outside

2. All Primary Forests or Peat Lands with leases or concessions

4. Secondary Forests and Other Land Covers outside Protected Forests and Conservation Areas, as well as most Primary Forests or Peat Lands with leases or concessions

At various times, the MoF has released retrospective data on the administrative status and land cover for the entire country, so that land subject to the PI can be compared with land illustrated on the IMM. The observations that follow are intended to support future revisions of the IMM, as provided for under the PI, to align them with the scope of the Moratorium as defined by the PI and also to identify areas suitable for an extension of the Moratorium onto secondary forests and other land covers with substantial carbon stocks.

This report assesses three factors pertinent to achieving “results based” international support for Indonesia’s reduction of emissions from deforestation, and forest degradation, and the role of conservation of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks, should the Moratorium be extended in time and space.

First, we identify areas that enjoy temporary additional protection under the Presidential Instruction. These exclude lands already ineligible for leases or concessions due to (a) official conservation status, (b) slopes greater than 40% officially regarded as too steep for logging or conversion, or (c) peat more than 3m thick officially regarded as unsuitable for exploitation5. Second, we estimate biomass carbon stocks and peat carbon stocks of areas with additional protection. Third, we identify opportunities to provide additional protection to other areas with high carbon stocks.

Sources and Methods

The IMM, administrative Forest Zones (Kawasan Hutan) and Selective Logging Concessions (HPH) were downloaded from http://appgis.dephut.go.id/appgis/kml.aspx. Forest Zone data for most of the country appear to reflect administrative status previously reported in 2009, though data for Papua Province and Jambi Province appear unchanged from 2002 reports. HPH data may not be complete or current, as no data were found on administrative changes understood to have occurred immediately before or since the PI. 4 Includes bare land, grassland and scrubland 5 Land over 2000m above sea level is also barred from logging, but this rule was not considered here.

http://appgis.dephut.go.id/appgis/kml.aspx


01/25/2012 4

Data on Industrial Plantation Concessions (HTI) were downloaded from http://appgis.dephut.go.id/appgis/kml.aspx, www.dephut.go.id/files/Buku _pemanfaatan_2010.pdf and http://webgis.dephut.go.id/ditplanjs/index.html . Data on Palm Oil Concessions (HGU and others) were downloaded from http://appgis.dephut.go.id/appgis/kml.aspx, supplemented with data gathered from provincial planning agencies (BPN). Coal Mining Concessions are those depicted on the Coal Map of Kalimantan and Sumatra (2009) prepared by the Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI-ICMA).

Land Cover data for this analysis was compiled by the Ministry of Forestry from 2008/2009 satellite imagery (MoF 2009). Areas identified as “Primary Forests” were adopted as the “Primary Natural Forests” designated by the PI.

Areas with slopes in excess of 40% were closely approximated by calculating slope >20o using 90m Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM).

Biomass carbon stocks were derived from maps of biomass carbon stocks above- and below-ground, excluding soil carbon, at a nominal resolution of 1km (Saatchi et al. 2011).

Carbon stocks in peat (necromass) were derived by multiplying mid-range peat thickness (Wetlands International 2003, 2004 and 2006) by the mid-range carbon density reported for peat under secondary forests, 59.5 kg/m3 (Wahyunto et al. 2010). For peat 1m thick, this is equivalent to 595 tonnes (Mg)/ha or 0.0595 million metric tonnes (Tg)/km2.

Tools and routines from ArcGIS were used to process all data into polygons for analysis. The statistical results from a spatial union of all the data layers were aggregated in a pivot table to calculate the area and carbon stocks of land meeting any combination of criteria from the source material on Moratorium status, administrative unit, concession type, land cover, peat presence and slope. The input data layers, integrated map products and output tables will be posted online at www.wri.org.

The area and carbon stocks in primary forests and peat lands reported here as additionally protected by the moratorium are overestimated to the extent that recent leases, concessions, deforestation and forest degradation are not reflected in the data currently available.

Results

The suspension on issuing new leases and concessions according to the PI applies to 42.6 million hectares (77%) of Indonesia’s primary forests and peat lands. 39.7 million hectares are inside the boundary mapped by the IMM and 2.8 million hectares are outside it.

The Moratorium affords additional protection by suspending the issue of new leases and concessions on primary forests and peat lands that might otherwise be eligible. Due to existing regulations and practices, the Moratorium does not provide additional protection to primary forests and peat lands with (a) formal conservation status (49%) of Indonesia’s primary forest or peat lands), (b) slopes >40o (79%), or (c) peat >3m deep (10%). An individual parcel may have more than one of these disqualifications. Excluding this already ineligible land, the suspension affords additional protection to no more than 13.7 million hectares (25%) of Indonesia’s primary forests and peat lands.


http://www.dephut.go.id/files/Buku%20_pemanfaatan_2010.pdf

http://webgis.dephut.go.id/ditplanjs/index.html


http://www.wri.org/


01/25/2012 5

Summary Table Secondary Forest

Without Peat

Primary Forest

Without Peat

All Peat Land

Area Mha* Mha Mha Total area of land cover type 48.7 34.1 20.8 Under lease or concession 21.9 5.3 7.1 Primary forest and peat subject to PI, secondary not subject to PI 26.8 28.8 13.7 Conserved land, slope >40%, or peat <3m deep 25.6 22.7 6.1 PI additional protection to primary forest and peat, not secondary 1.2 6.1 7.6

Biomass Carbon TgC** TgC TgC Total area of land cover type 8,212.4 5,986.8 2,449.5 Under lease or concession 3,873.5 972.7 889.2 Primary forest and peat subject to PI, secondary not subject to PI 4,339.0 5,014.1 1,560.3 Conserved land, slope >40%, or peat <3m deep 4,132.3 4,014.1 797.8 PI additional protection to primary forest and peat, not secondary 206.6 1,000.0 762.5

Peat Carbon TgC TgC TgC Total area of land cover type none none 25,987.0 Under lease or concession none none 9,829.7 Primary forest and peat subject to PI, secondary not subject to PI none none 16,157.3 Conserved land, slope >40%, or peat <3m deep none none 11,208.5 PI additional protection to primary forest and peat, not secondary none none 4,948.8 *Million hectares **Teragram equals 1 million metric tonnes

Carbon stocks reported here include both biomass (living and dead woody material above ground and roots below) and necromass in the form of peat. Inorganic carbon in soil was not considered. Primary forests and peat lands afforded additional protection by the PI cover 13.7 million hectares and hold 1762.5 million metric tonnes (TgC) of biomass carbon, 7% of Indonesia’s total biomass carbon stock. Primary forests and peat lands afforded additional protection by the PI hold 4948.8 million metric tonnes (TgC) of peat carbon, 19% of Indonesia’s total peat carbon stock.

Though excluded from the moratorium, Indonesia’s 12.4 million hectares of primary forests and peat lands under leases and concessions hold 1,861.9 million metric tonnes of biomass carbon and 9,829.7 million metric tonnes of peat carbon.

Supplementary Table 1 summarizes the area of all Moratorium primary forests and peat lands, according to the PI and the IMM, as well as those as those afforded additional protection by the PI. Supplementary Tables 2 and 3 summarize the biomass carbon stock and peat carbon stock of all Moratorium primary forests and peat lands, according to the PI and the IMM, as well as those afforded additional protection by the PI.

Figures 1 to 3 illustrate critical combinations of factors that occur in some of Indonesia’s key regions for reducing emissions from the forest sector.


01/25/2012 6

Discussion

Implementing the Moratorium is made more difficult by the fact that some land formally subject to the PI is situated outside the moratorium boundary shown on the IMM. This can be remedied by revising the IMM, when it is next reviewed, to reflect all primary forests and peat lands not subject to leases and concessions.

As other reviewers (Philips and Paoli 2011, Murdiyarso et al. 2011) have noted, there are significant opportunities to enhance the Moratorium’s effective area and carbon stocks by extending it to cover 1.2 million hectares of Indonesia’s secondary forests currently without any leases, concessions or conservation status.

The maps which accompany this report (Sheppard and Saxon 2011) indicate many opportunities for the government and land holders to consider exchanging portions of lease and concession areas over primary forests and peat lands with high carbon stocks for other areas with lower carbon stocks.

Acknowledgements

This report was supported by a grant from the Climate and Land Use Alliance to UCS. It benefited from the advice of Kemen Austin, Doug Boucher, Robin Kraft, Deborah Lawrence, Donna Lee, Moray McLeish, Fred Stolle, Calen May-Tobin and three anonymous reviewers. This report would have been impossible without the efforts of staff of the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry who compiled and posted large amounts of GIS data on line and our GIS colleagues who downloaded and collated it.

Citations

Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia (MoF), 2011. Peta Penutupan Lahan (Landcover Map) 2009. Direktorat Inventarsi Dan Pemantauan Sumber Daya Hutan Dan Direktorat Jenderal Planologi Kehutanan Kementrian Kehuatanan (Directorate of Forest Resource Inventory and Monitoring and Directorate General of Forest Planning) Murdiyarso, D., S. Dewi, D. Lawrence and F. Seymour, 2011. Indonesia’s forest moratorium: a stepping stone to better forest governance? Working Paper 76. CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia. Available online at http://www.cifor.org/publications/pdf_files/WPapers/WP-76Murdiyarso.pdf Saatchi, S. S., N. L. Harris, S. Sandra Brown, M. Lefsky, E. T. A. Mitchard, W. Salas, B. R. Zutta, W. Buermann, S. L. Lewis, S. Hagen, S. Petrova, L. White, M. Silman, and A. Morel, 2011. Benchmark map of forest carbon stocks in tropical regions across three continents. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1019576108. Available online at http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/05/24/1019576108 Sheppard, S. M., and E. C. Saxon, 2011. Land Subject to Indonesia’s Forest Moratorium. GIS data base and compiled maps of forest zones, land cover, leases, concessions, and the Indicative Moratorium Map. Available on request. UNEP/GRID-Arendal, 2011. Areas that qualify for protection under Indonesian law. UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics Library. Available online at: http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/areas-that-qualify-for-protection-under-indonesian-law.

http://www.cifor.org/publications/pdf_files/WPapers/WP-76Murdiyarso.pdf

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/05/24/1019576108

http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/areas-that-qualify-for-protection-under-indonesian-law

http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/areas-that-qualify-for-protection-under-indonesian-law


01/25/2012 7

Wahyunto, A. Dariah, and F. Agus, 2010. Distribution, Properties, and Carbon Stock of Indonesian Peatland. Proceedings of the International Workshop on Evaluation and Sustainable Management of Soil Carbon Sequestration in Asian Countries. Bogor, Indonesia September 28-29, 2010. Available online at http://www.niaes.affrc.go.jp/marco/bogor2010/proceedings/14.pdf

Wells, P. and G. Paoli, 2011. Preliminary Observations on the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry Decree SK.323/Menhut-II/2011 and Indicative Maps Concerning the Suspension of New Licenses for Forest and Peatland Utilisation. Daemeter Consulting, Jakarta 8 July 2011. Available online at http://www.daemeter.org/wp-content/files/Daemeter_Moratorium_Analysis_-_MoF_Indicative_Maps_SK_323_2011_20110708_Final.pdf Wetlands International (WI), 2003. Maps of peatland distribution and carbon content in Sumatra, 1990–2002, WI, Bogor, Indonesia.

Wetlands International (WI), 2004. Maps of peatland distribution and carbon content in Kalimantan, 2000–2002. WI, Bogor, Indonesia.

Wetlands International (WI), 2006. Maps of peatland distribution and carbon content in Papua, 2000–2002. WI, Bogor, Indonesia.

Supplementary Tables

1. (a) Total area (millions of hectares) of primary forests and peat lands subject to the Presidential Instruction (b) Area (millions of hectares) of primary forests and peat lands afforded protection by the Presidential Instruction

2. (a) Total biomass carbon stocks (millions of metric tonnes) on primary forests and peat lands subject to the Presidential Instruction (b) Biomass carbon stocks (millions of metric tonnes) on primary forests and peat lands afforded protection by the Presidential Instruction

3. (a) Total peat carbon stocks (millions of metric tonnes) on primary forests and peat lands subject to the Presidential Instruction (b) Peat carbon stocks (millions of metric tonnes) on primary forests and peat lands afforded protection by the Presidential Instruction

4. (a) Combined biomass and peat carbon stocks (millions of metric tonnes) on primary forests and peat lands subject to the Presidential Instruction (b) Biomass and peat carbon stocks (millions of metric tonnes) on primary forests and peat lands afforded protection by the Presidential Instruction.

http://www.niaes.affrc.go.jp/marco/bogor2010/proceedings/14.pdf

http://www.daemeter.org/wp-content/files/Daemeter_Moratorium_Analysis_-_MoF_Indicative_Maps_SK_323_2011_20110708_Final.pdf

http://www.daemeter.org/wp-content/files/Daemeter_Moratorium_Analysis_-_MoF_Indicative_Maps_SK_323_2011_20110708_Final.pdf


01/25/2012 8

Supplementary Table 1a. Total Area (million hectares)

Category Description

A. Primary Forest without Peat

B. Peat without Primary Forest

C. Peat with Primary Forest

A+B+C Peat and/or Primary Forest

D. Secondary Forest without Peat

E. Not Peat and Not Forest

Total

1 Inside and Subject

27.5

8.3

4.0

39.7

39.7

2 Outside and Subject

1.3

1.4

0.1

2.8

2.8

Subject Subtotal

28.8

9.7

4.0

42.6

42.6

3 Inside and Not Subject

0.9

2.2

0.4

3.5

15.6

9.9

29.0

4 Outside and Not Subject

4.4

3.8

0.7

8.9

33.1

73.7

115.7

Not Subject Subtotal

5.3

6.0

1.1

12.4

48.7

83.6

144.7

Total

34.1

15.7

5.1

54.9

48.7

83.6

187.2 Supplementary Table 1b. Additional Area (million hectares)







4.9

4.2

2.1

11.3


1.2

1.2

0.1

2.5

Total

6.1

5.4

2.2

13.7


01/25/2012 9

Supplementary Table 2a. Total Biomass Carbon Stocks (million metric tonnes)








Total


4,778.3

871.5

568.6

6,218.4

6,218.4


235.9

109.1

11.2

356.1

356.1

Subject Subtotal

5,014.1

980.6

579.7

6,574.5

6,574.5


166.6

241.6

59.2

467.4

2,684.4

1,177.1

4,328.9


806.0

472.6

115.8

1,394.5

5,528.0

7,238.9

14,161.4


972.7

714.2

175.0

1,861.9

8,212.4

8,416.0

18,490.3

Total

5,986.8

1,694.8

754.7

8,436.3

8,212.4

8,416.0

25,064.8

Supplementary Table 2b. Additional Biomass Carbon Stocks (million metric tonnes)







798.8

360.8

310.1 1469.7


201.2

82.2

9.4 292.8

Total

1000.0

443.0

319.5 1762.5


01/25/2012 10

Supplementary Table 3a. Total Peat Carbon Stocks (million metric tonnes)








Total

1 Inside and Subject 11,455.2

3,703.5

15,158.7

15,158.7

2 Outside and Subject 933.0

65.6

998.6

998.6

Subject Subtotal -

12,388.2

3,769.1

16,157.3

16,157.3

3 Inside and Not Subject 3,052.7

442.8

3,495.4

3,495.4


5,467.0

867.2

6,334.2

6,334.2

Not Subject Subtotal -

8,519.7

1,310.0

9,829.7

-

-

9,829.7

Total -

20,907.9

5,079.1

25,987.0

-

-

25,987.0

Supplementary Table 3b. Additional Peat Carbon Stocks (million metric tonnes)







- 2710.7

1720.3 4,431.0


-

476.6

41.3 517.8

Total

-

3,187.3

1761.6 4,948.8


01/25/2012 11

Supplementary Table 4a. Total Combined Biomass and Peat Carbon Stocks (million metric tonnes)








Total


4,778.3

12,326.7

4,272.1

21,377.1

21,377.1


235.9

1,042.1

76.7

1,354.7

1,354.7

Subject Subtotal

5,014.1

13,368.8

4,348.8

22,731.8

22,731.8


166.6

3,294.3

501.9

3,962.8

2,684.4

1,177.1

7,824.4


806.0

5,939.6

983.1

7,728.7

5,528.0

7,238.9

20,495.6


972.7

9,233.9

1,485.0

11,691.6

8,212.4

8,416.0

28,320.0

Total

5,986.8

22,602.7

5,833.8

34,423.3

8,212.4

8,416.0

51,051.8

Supplementary Table 4b. Additional Combined Biomass and Peat Carbon

Stocks (million metric tonnes)







798.8

3,071.5

2,030.4

5,900.7


201.2

558.8

50.6 810.6

Total

1000.0

3,630.3

2081.1

6,711.4


01/25/2012 12

Figure 1. Riau Province peat land not subject to the Presidential Instruction (PI) on the moratorium due to concessions (light brown), subject to the PI (dark brown), and subject to the PI but not providing additional protection (dark brown with white hachure). Pre-moratorium disturbance events detected by MODIS Feb 2006 – Apr 2011 (blue). Post-moratorium disturbance events detected by MODIS May 2011 – Aug 2011 (red). Peat lands with primary forests (yellow).


01/25/2012 13

Figure 2. Central Borneo forest not subject to the Presidential Instruction (PI) on the moratorium due to concessions (light green), subject to the PI (dark green), and subject to the PI but not providing additional protection (dark green with white hachure). IMM boundary (red) includes some land not primary forests, hence not subject to the PI.


01/25/2012 14

Figure 3. Biomass carbon density on primary forest provided with additional protection by the PI in Central Borneo (red 101-150 tC/ha, purple 151-250 tC/ha)

carbon stocks on land subject to indonesia’s forest ... · minor discrepancies between the pi...

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