Project POTICO Update
OCTOBER 16TH, 2009
In February, NewPage and the World Resources Institute (WRI) launched a joint initiative called Project POTICO (Palm Oil, Timber, Carbon Offsets) to preserve endangered virgin rainforests in Indonesia.
The goal of Project POTICO is to prevent deforestation by diverting planned oil palm plantations away from virgin rainforests and instead have them established on already logged-over or degraded areas. Virgin forests slated for conversion to oil palm plantations (Figure 1) will be “swapped” with non-forested lands that are suitable for oil palm. This strategy will ensure that oil palm can expand to meet demand, generating local revenue and jobs, while halting the destruction of pristine rainforests.
Figure 1. A lowland tropical rainforest on Borneo that is slated for deforestation and conversion to oil palm plantations
|
The standing forestland then will be sustainably managed to generate revenue from low impact uses of the forest, such as timber production according to Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC) guidelines. The concession swap may also be eligible to generate carbon offsets.
The focus of the project thus far has been to solidify the foundation for the first pilot Project POTICO land swaps. The project has been making significant progress. WRI has engaged several oil palm companies—given the sensitivities of concession swap negotiations we cannot publicly reveal their names at this time—regarding retiring planned oil palm concessions in virgin forests. One company has already offered to retire some planned oil palm concessions totaling more than 50,000 acres as starters. These lands slated for conversion currently consist of rainforests of high conservation value.
At the same time, a WRI team in Indonesia has been locating tracts of degraded land (i.e., land that was cleared some time ago but that has neither returned to forest nor become agricultural land) that are low in biodiversity but that are still suitable for siting oil palm plantations as part of the “swap”. Site identification research involves assessments of elevation, precipitation, soil type, land cover type, zoning classification, and proximity to transportation networks. In addition, the team has conducted on-the-ground site surveys (Figure 2), developed degraded land maps, and engaged communities. WRI’s core partner for this field work is an Indonesian non-governmental organization called Sekala, with whom WRI has worked for years on forest mapping and related activities in Indonesia.
This spring and summer, the team found more than two dozen sites of varying amounts of contiguous acres of degraded land in western Borneo that meet criteria for POTICO swaps. Some of these sites are alang-alang grasslands (Figure 3), an ideal candidate for POTICO swaps because they are low in biodiversity, do not offer much value to communities “as is”, and yet have been shown to be suitable for growing oil palm. The team is now engaging local communities and non-governmental organizations to ensure swaps meet community interests and the principles of “free, prior, and informed consent.”
The team has been working with government agencies on permits and zoning for POTICO swaps. In Jakarta, they have engaged the Ministry of Forestry and the Forest Planning Agency. On the island of Borneo, the team has engaged provincial and district government officials responsible for land permits and titles. Progress is being made on this front, including the uncovering of a little known law that allows for 2:1 swaps between forested and degraded lands. In addition, some district governments are leveraging the WRI team’s data on degraded lands to inform upcoming land re-zoning processes.
POTICO is designed to help increase the supply of sustainably grown palm oil and reduce deforestation. Companies that are large palm oil buyers are starting to make commitments to procuring palm oil certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. As this demand grows, supply will need to increase to meet it.
For the forests originally slated for conversion but left standing after the swaps, the project will put in place management plans to ensure the virgin forest is sustainably managed. To this end, WRI is partnering with The Forest Trust on the timber portion of the project, since the Trust is actively involved in FSC operations in Indonesia and elsewhere.
For the carbon offset portion, the project is laying groundwork for the required measurements and paperwork for the swap to be eligible for generating carbon offsets.
| |
|
|
 |
|
 |
Interested in interviewing experts and project staff in the field? Please contact:
Jessica Forres,
Media Officer
jforres@wri.org
+1-202-729-7736 |
|
Please direct all media inquiries regarding NewPage and its involvement in POTICO to:
Shawn Hall, Manager,
External Communications
slp2@newpagecorp.com
+1-937-242-9373 |
|
