| Project Detail |
Validation achieved to the CCB Standards Second Edition, Biodiversity Gold Level, on 18 November 2014.
Sebangau National Park is a peat swamp forest
located in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia that was previously a Production Forest logged under
13 concessions from 1970 to 1995. The project is included in the REDD+ Demonstration Activities implemented in conservation areas under Indonesia’s National Action Plan to Reduce GHG Emission. After the ending of logging concessions in the area in 1995, an era of illegal logging began. During this time numerous canals were dug by illegal loggers to transport logs out of the peat
swamp forest. These canals accelerate waterflow from the peatland, causing peat drainage and decomposition along with the release of associated greenhouse gases (GHG). The aim of the project activity is to reduce GHG emissions from peat decomposition by rewetting the drained peatland through technical means. The project will implement a canal blocking whereby dams are established in drainage canals. Studies have shown that GHG emissions produced by tropical peat land are controlled by the ground water level in relation to the peat surface, and therefore keeping the water level near the peat surface will reduce GHG emissions from peat decomposition. In addition to reducing GHG emissions, restoration of natural hydrological conditions is expected to result in the recovery of the peat swamp forest ecosystem in Sebangau. Rewetting the peat will support vegetation regrowth, enabling the recovery and expansion of wildlife populations including the endangered Bornean orangutan. The project area is an important orangutan habitat. A survey conducted between 2006 and 2007 showed a population of around 5,400 individual orangutans in Sebangau National Park. |
