East Kalimantan Environmentally Sustainable Development Strategy

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3. Reforestation and rehabilitation of forests that have been partially degraded will
restore ecosystem services and also absorb carbon, providing a reduction of
emissions of 12 MtCO2e at a cost of USD 2.60 per ton. The forest estate under the
administration of the national Ministry of Forestry includes some 1.5 million ha of “slightly critical
land” (agak kritis) that has been degraded by unsustainable logging practices. These forests
can be restored, and serve eventually as carbon sinks, but in order to do so they must be set
aside for conservation.
4. Rehabilitation and water management of previously opened peatlands offers the
possibility of saving some 18 MtCO2e at an average cost of USD 0.50 per ton. Peat soils
play a critical role in carbon emissions in our province, and once drained and degraded they
may emit CO2 for many years. We are coming to understand more and more of the role of peat
in emissions is relatively new, but betterhow management of the water table of our peatlands
can cut emissions dramatically and still allow economic use of lands that which are already
cleared. On top of high carbon emissions there are additional arguments against the clearing of
peat forests, such as flood prevention and protecting high biodiversity, and these should also
be taken into account when granting permits for alternative land uses.
5. The use of degraded land (lahan kritis) for future expansion of oil palm plantations,
timber plantations, and agriculture will allow us to grow these critical industries while
providing a reduction of emissions of 24 MtCO2e at a cost of USD 5.50 per ton. As many
1.4 million hectares in the province are categorized as very critical or critical lands. The terms
cover different categories of land, including those with negligible or little tree cover or even
mostly covered by unproductive alang-alang grasslands. About one third of these degraded
lands are found in contiguous fields of 500 ha and larger. Using these areas for plantations of oil
palm or pulpwood would avoid deforestation of equally sized forests.
DRAFT
One first step to enable the expansion of plantation on degraded land is the development of
a provincial degraded land database, which looks at soils, forest cover, existing usage and
land tenure, as well as other dimensions of economic potential. Degraded lands need to be
specifically identified in the spatial planning process, and should be prioritized over forested
areas for plantation location permits. Subsidies for the use of degraded land and/or high
carbon taxes on forested land might also be necessary to encourage the private sector to use
degraded areas. It might also be necessary to compensate oil palm concessionaires to shift
from forested land to degraded land.
Considering all the practical constraints, the timely use of degraded lands could save some
500,000 hectares of forests in the province. More use of degraded land could be achieved
relatively quickly if the issuing of new concessions for oil palm cultivation were simultaneously
put on hold, as indeed has been announced by the President as part of the Norway-Indonesia
REDD+ Partnership.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS
Hand in hand with our efforts to abate emissions, there are a number of complementary growth
initiatives that we should pursue urgently, as part of a sustainable economic development effort.
The top five such efforts could increase GDP by IDR 68 trillion in 2030, and so increase our growth
from 3 percent per year to 5 percent without increasing emissions. The emphasis here is on
capturing more of the value-added from the processing of our natural resources.