Project Information WWF Borneo Programme
PROJECT INFORMATION Title/Project Name Location National Office Lead (and emails)
Funded by Project time
Pictures
Sebangau Bio-Carbon Bakung, Rasau and Bangah Sub-cacthments, Sebangau National Park, Central Kalimantan Indonesia WWF-Indonesia Rosenda Chandra Kasih (rkasih@wwf.or.id) Program Manager WWF-Indonesia Central Kalimantan WWF-Germany Phase 1 (2008 – 2010) Phase 2 (2009 – 2012) Phase 3 (2013 – 2033)
Photo Credit: WWF ID/Tira Maya Maisesa
Project Description:
The project area is located in Sebangau National Park in Central Kalimantan on the western border of what is today called the Ex-Mega-Rice project area – a vast peatland area of 1 million hectares that was deforested and drained during the 1990s in an effort to convert the sparsely populated area to rice paddies. The Ex-Mega-Rice project was unsuccessful and was eventually abandoned. However, drainage of tropical peatland areas in Indonesia for logging purposes or for conversion into rice and palm oil plantations continues to be a key source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the country. The drained peat forests of Central Kalimantan are considered a major risk for GHG emissions because of their tremendous carbon stores. With carbon stocks between 3,000 and 6,000 tons per hectare, primarily stored as soil carbon, peat forests store fifteen to fifty times as much carbon as an equal area of tropical rain forest (120 to 400 tons of carbon per ha)1.
As soon as oxygen penetrates the drained peat corpus, micro-organisms begin to reduce/decompose the peat and to release considerable quantities of the GHG carbon dioxide (CO2). Reoccurring fires in drained peatlands accelerate this process. Emissions from degraded peat forests therefore are a significant factor contributing to Indonesia’s status as one of the leading CO2 emitting countries in the world. In addition, the degradation of peat swamps in Central Kalimantan also affects the socio-economic wellbeing of local populations that depend on the peatland resources for their livelihoods. The overall poverty rate in Central Kalimantan is 45%, while the poverty rate outside the peat swamp areas is 34%, indicating that the rate of poverty is higher in peat swamp dependent populations and thus they are more vulnerable compared to the overall population. The peat swamps of Central Kalimantan are also an important habitat for Orangutan and home to a population of 13,000 Borneo Orangutans, that is, a quarter of the world’s Borneo Orangutans.
The Sebangau National Park area was designated by Ministry of Forestry decree number 423/MenhutII/20042 on October 19, 2004 with an area of 568,700 ha of mostly peat swamp forest. It extends over three districts: Katingan District, Pulang Pisau District and the Municipality of Palangka Raya. WWF 1 IPCC. 2003. Good Practice Guidance for Land-Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry. http://www.ipccnggip.iges.or.jp/public/gpglulucf/gpglulucf.html 2 VCS PD Annex 6 Legislation referenced: Ministry of Forestry Decree No. 423 Menhut-II/2004
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