The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve REDD Project

BIODIVERSITY SECTION(Study conducted by Daemeter Consulting)B1. Net Positive Biodiversity ImpactsB1.1. Estimate of Impact of Project Activities onBiodiversityUse appropriate methodologies to estimate changes in biodiversity as aresult of the project in the project zone and in the project lifetime. Thisestimate must be based on clearly defined and defendable assumptions.The ‘with project’ scenario should then be compared with the baseline‘without project’ biodiversity scenario completed in G2. The difference(i.e., the net biodiversity benefit) must be positive.The net biodiversity benefit for the Project Zone over the projectlifetime will clearly be positive, as seen in a comparison of the‘with project’ and ‘without project’ scenarios along any metric.The ‘without project’ scenario equates to conversion of most orall remaining forests in the Project Area to oil palm plantations,currently the greatest threat to biodiversity in the Project Zoneand throughout Borneo more generally (see Section G 1.7 fordetailed discussion of oil palm impacts on biodiversity). Four oilpalm plantation licenses have already been issued inside theProject Area, covering 47,000 ha of mature to lightly disturbedforest. A fifth plantation to the north is already operational andwas therefore excluded from the Project Area. This plantationand has cleared large areas of forest on peat and mineral soils(see Section G1.2), with direct negative impacts on biodiversityon site and associated off-­‐site impacts, includingapparent increases in the occurrence of fire (see Section G1.8.4).Without the project, the other four oil palm license areas willsoon become operational, likely extending their reach beyondauthorized boundaries and placing the entire Project Zone at risk.The realization of this threat will lead to a sharp decline in thebiodiversity of the Project Zone through direct negative impactsof land clearing and associated indirect impacts (e.g., providingaccess to more remote forests – including the nearby TPNP – forhunting, illegal logging, and the draining of peat swamp forest;see Section G 1.7).253