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$14.14

/metric ton of CO₂e

Indonesia

149,800 ha

Borneo Peatlands

Avoided Planned Deforestation

Protect irrecoverable carbon in one of the planet’s largest remaining peat swamp forests

$14.14

/metric ton of CO₂e

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Overview

Borneo Peatlands

Indonesia

149,800 ha

Developer: PT. Rimba Makmur Utama (PT. RMU)

Avoided Planned Deforestation

The Borneo Peatlands project is one of the largest intact peat swamp forests in Indonesia and can store up to 20X more carbon than a typical forest. This rare piece of land is at significant risk of conversion to industrial timber plantations, as well as illegal deforestation for pulpwood. The project seeks to collaborate with local communities to protect and restore this critical ecosystem through education, alternative livelihood financing, and robust monitoring regimes.

Registry

Registry ID: 1477

Certifications

Methodology

VM0007v1.5

Three young women work to support the success of the Borneo Peatlands project (Photo credit: Katingan Mentaya Project).

Pachama's project evaluation criteriaPachama rigorously evaluates every project listed on our marketplace to ensure that we're surfacing only the highest quality projects. Our Evaluation Criteria includes a series of checks that every project must pass as well as a number of informative insights on project quality. You can see a preview of these checks below.

Accurate

The project's emissions reductions have been conservatively quantified

Baseline
The reported baseline emissions are less than or equal to Pachama's observed baseline emissions. There are some variations based on project type.
Past Project Emissions
The reported emissions inside the project area are greater than or equal to Pachama's observed emissions.
Carbon Inventory
The project estimated their carbon stocks using a field inventory or remote sensing approach that was statistically representative of the project area, and their carbon stock estimate included a confidence interval and had <15% standard error.

Additional

Emissions reductions would not have occurred without the incentive of carbon credits

Project Boundary
The boundary has not been artificially manipulated to increase crediting.
Financial and Legal Additionality
There was no funding for carbon project activities in the 10 years prior to the project start date, and there were no legal requirements for emissions reductions or removals.
Improved Forest Management Projects Only
Forest Maturity
The crediting period must extend at least 25% beyond the age of economic maturity for at least half of the project area.
Reforestation Projects Only
Forest Cover
There must be no deforestation within the project area and existing forest cover must be less than 10% in the 10 years prior to project start date.

Durable

The project delivers a long-lasting climate impact ensured by continuous monitoring and reporting

Recent Project Emissions
Pachama observed project emissions are less than the leakage-adjusted baseline meaning the project continues to provide a net climate benefit since their last credit issuance.
Fire Risk
Other Natural Risks
Buffer Pool

Net

The project hasn't simply moved deforestation from one place to another, producing no net climate benefit

Leakage Summary
Pachama currently examines and summarizes leakage calculations from registry-verified documents. Accounting for leakage is an inherently complex challenge with a range of methodologies. Pachama is using satellite observations to develop a consistent and easy-to-understand approach to quantifying leakage.

Beyond Carbon

The project causes no net harm and delivers biodiversity and community benefits

Free, Prior, Informed Consent
The project sufficiently demonstrated proper community engagement and consultation, and a grievance and redress mechanism is in place.
Certifications
Forest Management
Reforestation Projects Only
Ecological Impacts
For reforestation projects, the forest composition must be a majority native species, there must be at least 5 different species planted, and the species assemblage and density should be similar to what would typically be found in the local ecoregion.

1/5

Tech-verified evaluationEvery forest project listed on the Pachama Marketplace must align with our Evaluation Criteria to ensure we're surfacing only the highest quality projects. To assess a forest project, Pachama uses remote sensing to review a variety of factors including forest cover loss in and around the project area. This project passes our emissions quality checks because the reported emissions are in line with what Pachama observed.

Contains modified data from Hansen Global Forest Change v1.9 (2001-2021).

Visual Description

The figure above shows the project area outlined in white, and observed forest loss in red. The project has been active since 2010. Pachama analyzes forest loss data and removes false positives during our project evaluation process. Fire is one of the risks associated with forest carbon projects. While this particular project did experience some historical fire events, Pachama’s quality checks confirm the project has properly accounted for all emissions and continues to secure net climate benefits compared with the baseline scenario.

Project story

Preventing land conversion and restoring a natural carbon sink

At its heart, Borneo Peatlands aims to avoid the deforestation, degradation, and drainage of a vast area of peat swamp forest. By obtaining full legal control of the forest, the project prevented an industrial acacia plantation company from converting the area. This legal control is immensely important because the interior forests of the peatlands have increasingly been targeted for commercial exploitation. Prior to this project, the government granted licenses to a number of companies to log the forests irrespective of people’s claims to the land.

In addition to peatlands preservation, this project aims to reforest 4,433 hectares through three programs: community-led agroforestry, fire break implementation, and intensive reforestation. The team will grow saplings in on-site nurseries and conduct regular maintenance to improve the rate of tree survival.

Small local communities have existed along the banks of the main rivers for generations, relying on a river and forest-based economy supported by fishing, non-timber forest product harvesting, and smallholder agroforestry.

7.5M

tons of GHG emissions reduced annually during the crediting period.

~5%

of the global populations of Bornean Orangutan, Gibbon & Proboscis live in the project area.

Aerial view of the project's boardwalk through the forest (Photo credit: Katingan Mentaya Project).

Impacts beyond carbon

Measuring what matters: community and biodiversity impacts

Borneo Peatlands is designed with the people’s legacy in mind. All benefits are long-lasting and are passed on to local communities, the region, and the wider state of Indonesia. The team has partnered with 34 villages in the surrounding area, supporting traditional livelihoods including farming, fishing, and non-timber forest products harvesting. The project aligns with a number of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more about a few of their key initiatives:

No Poverty

Unlocking financing for businesses through microfinance loans for alternative revenue streams including the sustainable use of non-timber forest products, such as rattan, honey, coconut, and jelutong, as well as supporting the development of small processing facilities.

Learn more

Good health and well-being

Giving greater access to public healthcare services and health education for 34 villages surrounding the project, including improved local sanitation practices, and increased access to clean drinking water.

Learn more

Gender Equality

Employing women to support project initiatives (13% of staff are women with that number steadily increasing), building development programs focused specifically on women empowerment, and providing health services for 440 women.

Learn more

Decent work and economic growth

Providing training including work shadowing and internships for over 23,000 recipients, offering employment for 197 full-time field staff (74% hired from local communities), and supporting local fisherman groups to establish aquaculture platforms and promote sustainable fisheries.

Learn more

biodiversity

Home to some of the world’s most endangered species

The land is so important, both from an environmental and biodiversity perspective, that one of the team’s primary priorities is to stabilize and maintain healthy populations of faunal and floral species in the project zone. The project area contains over 67 mammal species, 167 bird species, 45 reptile species, and 11 fish species. Estimates indicate ~4,000 Orangutans, ~ 10,000 Bornean Gibbon, and >500 Proboscis Monkeys inhabit the project area. This population represents over 5% of these species’ remaining global populations and thereby classifying the project area as a Key Biodiversity Area.

14
Endemic species to Borneo in the project area

11
Endangered species in the project area

314
Plant species in the project area

tree spotlight

Peatlands

Tropical peatlands, made up of organic matter from partially decomposed tree remains, support fundamental ecological functions and store massive amounts of carbon, which is released into the atmosphere if lands are cleared, drained, or burned. Kalimantan encompasses ~5.7M ha of peatland.

how this project helps

Preservation and restoration: Rewetting of drained peatlands, conservation of partially drained peatlands, and maintenance of tree vegetation.

animal spotlight

Bornean Gibbon

Endemic to Borneo, the Bornean Gibbon is in serious decline due to forest habitat loss. They are primarily fruit-eaters, but they also enjoy flowers, immature leaves, and insects. Estimates indicate there are nearly 10,000 Bornean Gibbon in the project zone, which represents more than 5% of the remaining global population.

how this project helps

Protection of forests within the core project area and the wider region will ensure continued high population presence. The project’s activities will focus on general forest protection and hunting control measures.

project files

Verification Report 2018

pdf

Download

Verification Report 2010-2015

pdf

Download

Verification Report 2019

pdf

Download

Verification Report 2016

pdf