Report for the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) - UMS

5. Aims
As mentioned above the project should aim in two directions: the assessment of the amount
of carbon stored in the forests of Borneo and the implementation of REDD to bring a financial
benefit of these sources to the local people and thus protect the services that the ecosystem
provides. As a first step it is decisive to generate a detailed analysis of the carbon stock on
the basis of different techniques. It seems to be possible to establish methods to estimate the
carbon in the forests by calculating the quantum of wood available. That means counting
trees in a certain area, measuring the diameter at breast height as well as tree height.
Presumably, it doesn’t matter which species are present particularly in a heterogeneous
forest. But this has to be reviewed. This simple method of collecting data is useful for an
assessment of carbon stock in the field but it is best to support the remote sensing approach
as well. The mentioned approach is intended to cover larger areas and is affiliated with the
modeling by GIS. Furthermore all received data shall contribute to the modeling approach
which will give a reproduction of climate parameter data at high spatial resolution. This will
reveal the alteration in the vegetation cover under changing climatic and land-use conditions
which then leads to variations in biomass and carbon stock. However, field-work, remote
sensing and GIS are to be developed to be easy-to-manage tools in the practice of the local
stakeholders. For that reason it is necessary to design simple software applications which
could be web-based as well. Regarding the handling of carbon stock the local communities
then have the ability to adjust their forest management practices. It is substantial to
determine how to convert the specific amount of carbon in an accordant amount of money.
As REDD means to provide money to the local communities, one has to ask how the money
should be distributed to the people and who is eligible to get the money. A model for the
division of the payments is to be developed in the project. These aims are suitable to support
the economic, ecological and social development, and thus improve living conditions of the
Malaysian and Indonesian communities. The sound use of forest resources will help to
maintain income security and the development of opportunities for future generations. On the
other hand the mitigation of greenhouse gases will slow down global warming and contribute
to the benefit of all.
The objectives of the planned project are:
1. The actual carbon stocks of Borneo are known and the impact of climate change on the
carbon stocks are shown under different climate scenarios.
2. The knowledge of the carbon stocks can be used to create additional income for the local
population in the context of REDD.
3. The methodology to assess carbon stocks on local level is part of a technical,
administrative, legislative and economic implementation concept of REDD in Borneo.
6. Structure of the project and partners
The scheduled project should deal with two aspects (Fig. 4). The implementation of REDD
on the one hand including the economic aspects and the assessment of carbon stock on the
other hand. For both directions different techniques and methods of resolutions are
necessary. However, the common denominator could be the adaptability at the community
respective stakeholder level. All possibly partners involved could contribute to the one or
more of the required field of activities.
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