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Project Summary The Leuser Ecosystem REDD Project Aceh, Indonesia G l o b a l E c o R e s c u e , 1 1 th F l o o r , S u i t e 1 1 0 1 . D e u t s c h e B a n k B u i l d i n g J a l a n I m a m B o n j o l 8 0 , J a k a r t a 1 0 3 1 0 , I n d o n e s i a Avoided Deforestation, Biodiversity Conservation and Development The Leuser Ecosystem REDD Project Project Description The Leuser Ecosystem is located in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. It covers just over 2 million hectares of forest that is exceptionally rich in biological diversity. It is considered to be the last place in SE Asia that is of sufficient size and quality to maintain viable populations of many rare and charismatic species such as tigers, orangutans, rhinos, elephants, and clouded leopard. The Leuser Ecosystem also functions as a life-support system for more than four million people in the surrounding area. There is a direct link between conservation of Leuser and the welfare of local communities. The status of the Leuser Ecosystem is bound by Act No 26, 2007 regarding National Spatial Plans. In the implementation details of this Act PP No 26, 2008 the Leuser Ecosystem was declared to be a Strategic Area - an area that is of national importance, especially for economic and environmental reasons. Consequently it is illegal to undertake any activities inside the Leuser Ecosystem that are not directly related to either the protection or restoration of the ecosystem, the strongest Figure 1: Map of Aceh Province, situated at the northern tip of Sumatra, Indonesia. The outline of the Leuser Ecosystem is shown. protection status possible under Indonesia law. Moreover, both provincial and district level spatial plans sold into the appropriate global cap and trade systems. comply with the regulations articulated in Jakarta and the The Project will align with compliance market criteria under a national system as it emerges. boundaries of the Leuser Ecosystem have been socialised to communities that live along its periphery. Recognising Deforestation the need to protect the Leuser Ecosystem specifically the In 2005, the FAO determined the Indonesian national Governor of Aceh, with the agreement of the Aceh average rate of deforestation to be 2.59% while rates in Parliament, established a special body to manage the Aceh have historically been lower, at an estimated Leuser Ecosystem – Badan Pengelola Kawasan 0.89%. However, since 2004 the threat of forest loss in Ekosistem Leuser (BPKEL). Aceh has been heightened due to a number of fundamental changes. First, Aceh’s 30-year period of Despite the strong legal protection, the main threats that civil conflict ended in August 2005, during which time are driving deforestation in the Leuser Ecosystem are there was political and economic uncertainty and similar to other forest areas in Indonesia and include: investment was constrained. Second, the 2004 Tsunami wreaked human and infrastructural disaster, which lead • Poorly controlled infrastructure development – to a massive reconstruction effort and a strong demand including, roads, transmission lines, and large for timber. As a result, deforestation rates have increased dams dramatically in Aceh, rising from an average of 20,000ha • Mining per year to an estimated 130,000ha per year in 2005- • Conversion of forest to tree crop plantations, 2006 or a 3.66% rate of deforestation. namely palm oil The Leuser Ecosystem has a total current carbon stock of • Settlement expansion ~1,400 Mt CO2e with a weighted average carbon stock • Smallholder encroachment of ~760 t CO2e /ha. Preliminary assessments have estimated that ~30% of the Leuser is under threat from • Illegal logging deforestation, with a yearly deforestation rate of ~2%. GER is establishing a project level and a sub-national Under this scenario the project will deliver approximately ~6-8 million Verified CO e Emission provincial level baseline to quantify the carbon stock that 2 is under threat. Resulting emission offsets will be Reductions (VERs) annually for a minimum of 30 years. verified under Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) and Climate Community and Biodiversity (CCB) criteria and Avoided Deforestation, Biodiversity Conservation and Development The Leuser Ecosystem REDD Project Project Approach, Additionality, concern for potential investors in Aceh, who in most Permanence and Leakage cases have to rely on their own power plants, or simply choose not to invest in Aceh. The financial flows created by carbon credits will be The importance of electrification for the economic used to fund sustainable development and conservation development of Aceh cannot be overstated. At a basic activities. An integral part of GER’s strategy is to level, electricity allows for the creation of downstream address the root cause of deforestation: unsustainable industrial capacity, value added processing, irrigation, approaches to economic development. GER’s holistic refrigeration of perishables, Internet access etc. GER has land management strategy is aligned with the Governor’s identified a number of renewable energy investments on Aceh Green vision, which calls for hard investments in the periphery of the Leuser Ecosystem. electrification projects, agro-forestry and timber farms as well as soft investments in education, healthcare and Forest Supply Chain. The forest value chain represents community work. These investments would refocus a particularly important set of opportunities to rationalize communities neighboring natural rainforests away from forest utilization. inefficient forest utilization and agricultural practices and Timber producing provinces need a sustainable source of employ them in higher value-added and ecologically timber for their construction needs. If supplies from balanced economic activities. This holistic approach is natural forests are reduced or minimized, then best positioned to address the issues of Additionality, commercial plantations need to be established to meet Permanence and Leakage. local demand and reduce long-term pressures on natural Specific development activities are targeted on the basis forests. of their ability to support development goals while at the Given the lack of clear title to land, it is difficult to same time providing incentives to local stakeholders to secure large tracts of land to establish plantations. value conservation. Activities will be pursued through Developing community forestry is a crucial component both sustainable commercial ventures and community of the optimization of the forestry supply chain. It development initiatives. Two of the key sectors that GER increases total supply of wood, improves relationships will focus on in Aceh are power and the forest supply with communities, and provides them with alternative chain. income streams and employment opportunities. The Power. On average, 70 percent of electricity related model being developed is to form partnerships with local infrastructure in Aceh is in disrepair as a result of the communities to establish profit sharing plantations, agro- 2004 tsunami, the 30-year civil conflict or lack of forestry and tree crops. maintenance. The province faces a power deficit of GER can provide much needed capital, facilitate local approximately 220MW and is vulnerable to power partnerships and bring technical expertise to project shortages. Additionally, it is estimated that to meet development and management. It is only through increasing energy demand in Aceh, it is necessary to investment in R&D that the limited land resources will generate new electric capacity at the rate of at least be optimized. 20MW per year. Power is currently the most significant Additionality. Significant conservation activities and sustainable development projects both under BPKEL and under other NGOs active in the region have not been pursued in the absence of adequate funding. Regional government and State funding for such activities is minimal. Carbon financing can fill this gap by implementing the Leuser REDD Project which would produce additional emission reductions from the “baseline” business-as-usual scenario. Permanence. GER’s holistic approach to manage non- permanence risks associated with the Project establishes environmentally, socially and financially sustainable development initiatives orientated towards improving local stakeholder respect for conservation values. Community development activities are designed not only to promote greater health, education, and welfare for communities in and around the Project area but also to provide alternative livelihoods and advanced agricultural training to ensure more ecological suitable revenue streams are provided for the long term. Figure 2: Conversion of lowland forest to palm oil in the Leuser Ecosystem Leakage. Minimizing leakage (whereby forest exploitation moves out of a newly protected area to an adjacent one) is an essential component of any REDD Avoided Deforestation, Biodiversity Conservation and Development The Leuser Ecosystem REDD Project project. The holistic land management approach adopted A strong proof of concept with successful by GER calls for establishment of nurseries and tree implementation is absolutely imperative to create an plantations that will continue feeding the downstream alternative source of carbon credits. The inclusion of pulp and paper industry and averts expansion of logging such credits should ensure that the next iteration of the into areas surrounding the Ecosystem. Under the world’s cap and trade system is economically viable. November 2008 VCS AFOLU guidelines, a leakage risk GER has engage the most credible offset buyers and assessment for avoiding planned and unplanned (illegal) strategic partners but is open to further collaboration. frontier deforestation and degradation will be Our future partners would share our concern for global undertaken. Depending on the results of the leakage risk climate change and the immediate need to pro-actively assessment, 10-30% of carbon credits will be set-aside. put a price on the destruction of pristine rainforests. Partners and Forms of Collaboration GER is a private project developer. It is active on the ground developing and implementing long-term forest protection projects that produce carbon credits. GER also has its in-house sales and marketing force to sell such credits in the international cap and trade systems. GER has operated in Indonesia since 2006 and has offices in Switzerland. GER is developing the Leuser REDD project in partnership with the Government of Aceh. The two parties will jointly implement the carbon rights agreements and channel carbon revenues into sustainable development investment activities. The approach is designed to couple strong management oversight with local expertise via the development of partnerships that can effectively deploy capital adapted to the local realities. An essential partner of the Project is BPKEL – the government authority responsible for the conservation of the Leuser Ecosystem. Additional financing will be provided to BPKEL through the Project to help them effectively conserve the Leuser Ecosystem. Current government budget allocations are insufficient. Arrangements with strong local partners from within local government, NGOs, community groups and the private sector will be pursued to identify, improve and develop sustainable development and conservation activities. Project approval will be sought from the central government of Indonesia, through the Ministry of Forestry. The Big Picture Accumulating science suggests that we may have less time that we thought to reverse the climate changes due to carbon emissions. The cost of solving the problem can be contained if cap and trade systems explicitly include the most cost effective measures. Forest protection is one of the most cost effective measures to reduce emissions available today. GER anticipates a significant rise in the price of tCO e 2 once projects are compliant under a post-2012 REDD compliance market scheme, or the anticipated US cap Figures 3 and 4: The Leuser REDD Project will deliver significant biodiversity and and trade system that will include international forestry community development related benefits. credits. The distribution of revenue will be even more beneficial to local parties at this point.
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