Widespread land-use change and measures to maintain forests, carbon stocks and biodiversity
Deforestation in North and East Kalimantan in Indonesia can be prevented, but only with strict measures such as using underutilised lands and accounting for land tenure and the maintenance of forests and peatlands. Carina van der Laan will defend her PhD thesis on stabilising forests at 23 September at Utrecht University. She conducted her research within the Agriculture Beyond Food research programme of NWO-WOTRO Science for global development and the KNAW.
Due to the increasing world population and overall living standard, there is a growing demand for food, feed, fibre and fuel. The production of the commodities that fulfil these demands, requires large areas of land and result in land use and land cover (LULC) change. On the one hand, LULC change provides income to certain groups in society, ranging from multinational companies to local companies, smallholders and government actors. On the other hand, these land developments result in land use conflicts, for example between companies and communities. Additionally, LULC change can lead to a decline of forest cover, plant and animal species, carbon stored in vegetation and soil (carbon stocks), and local food production.
A stabilising forest cover is possible, but only with an integrated perspective on mitigating unwanted Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) change. This includes significant efforts in
- establishing a limit-to-growth on land development for the production of palm oil, rubber, pulpwood and coal;
- responsible land use planning and zoning, by using underutilised lands and accounting for land tenure and the maintenance of forests and peatlands;
- developing or strengthening incentives to maintain forests, such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation+;
- implementing additional measures, such as the improvement of yields;
- supporting these measures by capacity building and enabling policies.
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Priority should be given to maintaining and improving existing natural forests and peatlands and developing underutilised (degraded) lands for agriculture and mining. When forest cover increases, carbon accumulates over time. However, plant species populations that were diminished may not recover, species that went extinct locally may not return, and species with a limited distribution may become extinct all together.
It is also important to assess and monitor whether the mitigation measures are working and whether forest cover in the study region and in Indonesia nation-wide is stabilising.
Additionally, transparency in and sharing of concession and land allocation zoning data is essential. Most importantly, non-profit organisations, communities, governments and companies need to work together on a trust-basis in responsible land use planning, in order to mitigate unwanted LULC change and stabilise a high forest cover.
The stimulates long term cooperation between research groups from Indonesia and Netherlands on the potential benefits of biomass and the social, economic and policy impact. Agriculture Beyond Food is divided into three clusters: the introduction of Jatropha as an alternative biofuel, mobile technologies for biodiesel production, and the effects of an increasing production of palm oil.