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Scientists at the Centre for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) have published a study that is set to lift the game in emissions reporting for high-carbon wetland ecosystems. Source: Timberbiz For countries’ emission-reduction efforts under the Paris Agreement to be effective and to grow trust in climate finance schemes more broadly baseline emission/removals levels and reporting must be as transparent and accurate as possible. In the Indonesian context, that means taking a closer look at its wealth of high-carbon tropical peatlands and mangrove forests, of which it holds some of the largest areas in the world and which currently sequester a combined total of around 31.2 gigatonnes of carbon. About 60% of Indonesia’s national emission reduction targets by 2030 depend on mitigation in the Forestry and Other Land Use (FOLU) sector. Yet national emissions continue to grow, with the sector contributing as much as 50% at present. As such, protecting and restoring mangroves and peatlands ought to be a high priority for national emission reduction efforts. While deforestation in these landscapes has slowed over the past two decades, further avoidance of deforestation and degradation of these high-C reservoirs is a must to achieve ambitious targets of FOLU Net Sinks by 2030. “Carbon-rich peatlands and mangroves are key ecosystems to manage as far as land-based mitigation strategies are concerned,” said Daniel Murdiyarso, a principal scientist at CIFOR-ICRAF and lead author of the study. That means the country has a particular need for high-accuracy greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory and improved national forest reference emissions levels (FREL) for these ecosystems, a need that has not been fully addressed to date. “While Indonesia moved from using Tier 1 IPCC default emission factors (EF) for drained peatlands in its FREL 2016 to Tier 2 EF in its FREL 2022, the later were not developed following the IPCC guidelines – with significant implications for GHG accounting,” said contributing author and CIFOR-ICRAF senior scientist Kristell Hergoualc’h. In this context, the research team explored scientific challenges and gaps to develop high tiers and refined emission factors for Indonesia’s drained and rewetted peatlands, peat fires, converted mangroves, and mangroves on peatlands. Significantly, they found that about 10% of Indonesian mangroves fall into this last category. “This unique combination of two wetland ecosystems located in the same landscape is currently understudied, posing technical challenges for high quality GHG inventory and reporting, and should be prioritised for future research,” said contributing author and senior research officer at James Cook University, Sigit Sasmito. Overall, the authors emphasized that emission reduction estimates will be much more accurate whenever high tier emission factors are employed. “The research outputs provide a roadmap for reducing uncertainty in accounting of GHG emissions and uptakes by Indonesian peatlands and mangroves,” said contributing author and CIFOR-ICRAF researcher Erin Swails. With improved certainty on these subjects, programmes and projects will be able to take a more unified approach to support ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), and Indonesia will be well poised to take the lead globally in emission reductions in the FOLU sector. Such clarity will also build confidence in financial investment, as high-quality data will help to secure the involvement of the private sector alongside its public counterpart. “With the application of refined emission factors, the Indonesian government should be more confident to report on emission reduction targets in its second NDC to the Paris Agreement, and well-prepared for the upcoming Global Stocktake in 2028,” said Murdiyarso. “We suggest that these refinements will be essential to support Indonesia in achieving a FOLU net sink by 2030 and net zero emissions targets by 2060 or earlier,” concluded the co-authors. The study can be found here.  

Campaigners are taking legal action to stop four palm oil companies from clearing vast tracts of forest for plantations. Indigenous activists from the Indonesian province of West Papua have held traditional ceremonies outside the country’s Supreme Court in Jakarta calling for their traditional land and forests to be protected from palm oil plantations. Source: Aljazeera Representatives of the Awyu and Moi communities held prayers and performed dances in front of the Supreme Court building as the court was reviewing an appeal in relation to their efforts to revoke permits for four palm oil companies whose proposed plantations threaten their customary forests. Indonesia began legally recognising customary forests in 2016. “We have taken the long, difficult and expensive path from Tanah Papua [Papua homeland] to end up here in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, asking the Supreme Court to restore our rights, and the land that was snatched from us when these palm oil companies were issued permits over it,” said Hendrikus “Franky” Woro, an Awyu Indigenous man. Woro filed an environmental and land rights lawsuit in the Papuan capital of Jayapura challenging the plan by a Malaysian-owned palm oil company to clear tens of thousands of hectares of previously untouched West Papuan Forest, including traditional Indigenous land. Environmental campaign group Greenpeace said the potential emissions from clearing the 26,326 hectares (65,053 acres) of primary forest in its concession would amount to about 23 million tonnes of CO2, equivalent to 5 percent of Indonesia’s annual carbon emissions expected in 2030. The Awyu have also intervened in appeals taken by two other palm oil companies against a decision by the minister of environment and forestry to cancel permits that it had previously issued for them to clear Indigenous lands. The revocation has the potential to save 65,415 hectares (161,644 acres) of pristine rainforest, six times the area of the city of Paris, Greenpeace said. The Supreme Court is the communities’ last chance to defend their customary forest and generations of ancestral heritage. “We have been tormented for years by the threat of our traditional forests being replaced by palm oil plantations. We want to raise our children with the help of nature, and the food and materials we harvest from the forest. Palm oil will destroy our forests, we reject it,” said Rikarda Maa, an Awyu Indigenous woman. The Moi Indigenous community, meanwhile, is fighting to protect thousands of hectares of customary forest that has also been earmarked for palm oil. The company involved had its permits revoked amid community opposition, but lower courts later ruled in favour of the planter. “The judicial panel needs to prioritise aspects of the case that relate to environmental and climate justice, the impact of which will not only be felt by the Awyu and Moi but the entirety of the Indonesian people,” Tigor Hutapea, a member of the legal team from Pusaka Bentala Rakyat, said in a statement. Global Forest Watch, a monitoring platform run by the World Resources Institute, said last month that since 1950, more than 74 million hectares (183 million acres) of Indonesian rainforest — an area twice the size of Germany — had been logged, burned or degraded for the development of palm oil, paper and rubber plantations, nickel mining and other commodities. Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil, and Malaysia number two. Indonesia is also a major exporter of commodities such as coal, rubber and tin.

When the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR) came into force in June 2023, FSC accelerated several existing projects to align our sustainable forestry standards with the EUDR requirements and develop the required technology solutions to ease compliance for companies. Source: Timberbiz While FSC is finalising its solutions to meet its own robust three-chamber governance requirements, you can already register to see the result. FSC Aligned for EUDR takes the complexity out of EUDR requirements and provides a robust solution to help certificate holders become compliant on time. Join us as we unveil this offering and how it will streamline your compliance journey. Get access to the FSC Aligned Certification for EUDR, supporting companies to fulfil their due diligence obligations. It includes the newly developed FSC Regulatory Module and FSC Risk Assessment Framework and enables EUDR alignment by leveraging FSC’s robust system. Find out how to start implementation immediately. Enjoy a first look at the second part of this modular solution – FSC Aligned Reporting for EUDR. Powered by FSC Blockchain (Beta), it will help companies report on their EUDR Due Diligence activities. While this launch event will provide a short section for questions and answers, FSC will host dedicated technical webinars to dive deep into FSC Aligned Certification for EUDR, where the experts involved will answer technical questions. Simultaneous interpretation into key languages will be offered. Register now: 3 July 2024 Wed, Jul 3, 2024, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM Register at https://www.linkedin.com/events/launchevent-fscalignedforeudr7193967598538022912/  

New Zealand’s wood processing sector is trying to work out how to meet incoming rules around deforestation for exports to Europe. Source: RNZ The European Union (EU) passed deforestation regulations last year asking those sending product to prove their supply chains are free of deforestation. The EUDR (European Union Deforestation Regulation) was expected to affect products including cattle products, palm oil or wood products. New Zealand exported NZ$100 million worth of wood products like wood chips to Europe last year with more than half going to the Netherlands. Wood Processors and Manufacturers Association chief executive Mark Ross said there was some confusion around the new rules, tipped to be implemented in late December, and how they would play out. He said while the industry supported the idea, it needed more clarity. “We support that, but the way they’re going about it, it’s going to be really hard to meet the criteria that they put out there for New Zealand exporters to the European Union countries,” Ross said. He said processors would need to provide documentation detailing where the trees came from before products were processed, and if the forest site was replanted. “They’ll need to have geolocation data that shows where those forests have come from when it comes to wood products,” he said. “We will need to have satellite images like GPS co-ordinates showing where those trees were harvested before they were processed.” He said there could be a challenge for agriculture due to the provision that the export products would not be linked to conversion of natural ecosystems. “If the land’s harvested then converted into agriculture, then you won’t be able to export those products. “So, if it’s harvested and then replanted, you’ll be fine.” It comes as New Zealand’s Free Trade Agreement with the EU comes into force this month. Simultaneously, Export NZ released a report on the agreement called Seizing opportunities through compliance, which detailed the impact of EU tools and provisions like the carbon border adjustment mechanism, green shipping arrangements and the deforestation regulation. It said for forestry, New Zealand’s incoming legal harvest assurance scheme for timber “may ensure compliance with this EU regulation” is due to begin in 2026 – if all goes ahead. The Ministry for Primary Industries has extended the consultation period for accepting feedback on a system to ensure timber is harvested legally, with its closing on 4 June Mr Ross said the wood processing sector will hold workshops with interested parties to help them adjust to the changes, before then searching for possible forest tracing software available in the market. “But at the moment, there is a lot of confusion and uncertainty around what needs to be done,” he said. “Some people are [saying it will have] significant implications and that trying to get that data would be very difficult in some circumstances.” But he said New Zealand was in a good position, and believed the sector could carve out some competitive advantage here. “When it comes to forestry and planting trees, we have good systems in place [regarding] knowing where our products come from.” In an email to members, the association said it was considering “the approach and service of FSC”, the Forest Stewardship Council certification, which was widely used here already but said feedback was the scheme alone would not provide the paperwork expected to be needed by European officials.