The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve REDD Project

G3.5. Risks to Expected Climate, Community, andBiodiversity BenefitsIdentify likely natural and human-­‐induced risks to the expected climate,community and biodiversity benefits during the project lifetime andoutline measures adopted to mitigate these risks.FireRisk. The principal risk to all expected climate, community, andbiodiversity benefits during the project lifetime is the loss ofcarbon stocks inside the Project Area due to fire, whether naturalor human-­‐induced. Fire would at once reverse climate benefitsthrough the release of carbon emissions from abovegroundforest and belowground peat deposits, undo any expectedbiodiversity benefits through destruction of habitat, andindirectly impact community benefits through the elimination ofthe main funding mechanism.Fire is perhaps the key permanence issue facing REDD projects.Even for the Rimba Raya project, which consists in large part ofpeat swamp forest, both natural and human-­‐induced firesthreaten many of the project benefits for climate, community,and biodiversity. The potential surface and ground fuels arepredominantly waterlogged for much of the year and do not posea fire hazard even in periods when neighboring grasslands canburn. However, in extremely dry seasons, fires can burn in thesurface fuels and penetrate into the peat beneath the groundcover to a depth of 0.5 – 2.0 m. Such fires tend to flare up intopreviously killed trees and become particularly difficult to control(Nicolas and Beebe 1999).Fire in Indonesia. The serious threat posed to worldenvironment and health first gained global notice during the1997 / 1998 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event, duringwhich approximately 25 million hectares of land were affected byfire. During this period, Indonesia suffered the worst fires of anycountry worldwide, with over 10 million hectares burned. InKalimantan alone, over one million hectares of peat swampforest were consumed in the fires. Estimates for the economiccosts of these devastating firest from forest degradation anddeforestation alone range from $1.6 – 2.7 billion. Estimates forthe cost of the smoke haze pollution generated by these firesrange from $674 – 799 million, and for the environmental costsfrom emitted carbon at $2.8 billion (Tacconi 2003). Given therampant conversion of forest land to oil palm and other uses, firecontinues to pose a significant risk to forested land throughoutIndonesia.Project Zone History. The history of fire inside the Project Zone isdifficult to determine with any accuracy as no records have beenkept, although it is clear from anecdotal evidence that fires haveperiodically affected the region. During 2006, a prolonged dryseason made the entire country particularly vulnerable, and firesswept through portions of TPNP and the Project Zone. OFI, incoordination with the TPNP board and the BKSDA (regency landdepartment) Manggala Agni unit, fought the fire, contributingUSD 11,000 and hundreds of man-­‐hours to the effort. Theseefforts were only moderately successful, hampered by difficultyof access to areas affected by fire, subterranean peat fires, andthe lack of water resources. A survey of the Project Zone afterthe fire revealed the following:157