The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve REDD Project

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYEvery minute of every day in Indonesia, an area of biodiverseforest the size of five football fields is slashed and burned forconversion to oil palm plantation. Annually, this primary driverof deforestation destroys more than 25,000 square kilometers offorestland – an area roughly the size of Belgium – in a wastefulcycle that is responsible for Indonesia’s ranking as the world’sthird largest emitter of greenhouse gases despite being a non-­industrializednation whose economy accounts for less than 1%of global GDP (World Bank and IMF Global Rankings -­‐ 2008). Thiswanton destruction of forests is fueling an environmentalcatastrophe that reaches far beyond the borders of Indonesia.The Rimba Raya project aims to stem the tide of destruction thatthreatens global climate stability.The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve is a beautiful and storiedexpanse of tropical peat swamp forest on the southern coast ofBorneo in Central Kalimantan province, Indonesia, covering91,215 hectares of land along the eastern flank of world-­renownedTanjung Puting National Park. Without the Rimba Rayaproject, this area would be lost to planned oil palm development.The habitat protected by the Park and the Reserve is home todozens of endangered species, including the Bornean orangutan.Along the eastern edge of the Reserve, 14 impoverishedcommunities face looming economic forces that threaten toappropriate land that has been their home for generations.The Rimba Raya project represents an innovation in the field ofconservation via Reductions in Emissions from Deforestation andDegradation (REDD). REDD is quickly emerging as the mostpromising new tool for addressing the rampant deforestationresponsible for some 20% of annual global greenhouse gasemissions. But mature standards, methods, and technologies arestill years away, and critical forests are disappearing at analarming rate. While the sector struggles with growing pains,hoping to incorporate into the international market system just asmall fraction of the value that forests have to offer if allowed toremain standing, other industries race to destroy the world’sremaining forests for short-­‐term profit.The Guinness Book of World Records ranks Indonesiaas having the highest rate of deforestation in the world,with the amount of forest lost equivalent to 300 soccerfields each hour. This world record estimates Indonesia’sdeforestation rate at 1.8 million hectares (2 percent of itsforests) per year between 2000 and 2005.The World Bank has predicted that in Kalimantan therewill be no lowland rainforests left outside protected areasby 2010 if current destruction rates continue. According to Forest Watch Indonesia, CentralKalimantan's forests are being converted into oil palmplantations at the fastest rate in the country. The rate hasincreased more than 400 times to 461,992 hectares peryear in 2007 from 1,163 hectares per year in 1991. According to Wetlands International, the annualdeforestation rate of Central Kalimantan peatlands was5.4% between 2002 and 2005. Satellite studies show that about 56% (more than 29,000km 2 ) of protected lowland forests in Kalimantan were cutdown between 1985 and 2001.1