Transforming Exploitative Land-Based Economy to Reduce Terrestrial Carbon Stock Loss: The Case of Kalimantan, Indonesia
Large-scale land exploitation has been regarded as a quick way to jumpstart backward agricultural economies, but it also brought about profound impacts on climate change through terrestrial carbon stock change. Kalimantan is a major site of terrestrial ca
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Transforming Exploitative Land-Based Economy to Reduce Terrestrial Carbon Stock Loss: The Case of Kalimantan, Indonesia Chun Sheng Goh and Ser Huay Janice Teresa Lee Abstract Large-scale land exploitation has been regarded as a quick way to jumpstart backward agricultural economies, but it also brought about profound impacts on climate change through terrestrial carbon stock change. Kalimantan is a major site of terrestrial carbon stock loss. Major carbon stock loss happened in the 1970–1980s due to predatory logging activities under Suharto’s regime. Since 2000, the conversion of forest to oil palm plantation has become a prominent driver. In 2006–2010, the total carbon stock loss in Kalimantan amounted to 53 Tg CO2 /yr. Boosting upstream productivity of cash crops, mobilising under-utilised low carbon and degraded land resources, creating value for carbon stock (e.g. REDD+) and enhancing resilience to natural and human-made disasters were regarded as the four major strategies proposed for transforming exploitative land-based activities. However, the implementation of each strategy has faced various challenges. The first two strategies with wealth creation as the centre of policymaking may prevent further degradation but are inadequate to repair the previous environmental damage. Similarly, the last two strategies that emphasise restoration have limited contribution to economic growth. To better understand the dynamics of such transformation, careful attention must be paid to the territorial-specific characteristics and on-the-ground realities. This must also include the historical background of land-based development and its continuity. Keywords Kalimantan · Land-use · Carbon stock · Forest · Bio-economy
C. S. Goh (B) Center for Government and International Studies, Harvard University, Asia Center, 1730 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02138, US e-mail: [email protected] Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development, Sunway University, Malaysia, Malaysia S. H. J. T. Lee Asian School of the Environment, College of Science, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Subang Jaya, Singapore e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Djalante et al. (eds.), Climate Change Research, Policy and Actions in Indonesia, Springer Climate, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55536-8_11
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Introduction In Indonesia, large-scale land exploitation has been regarded as a quick way to jumpstart backward agricultural economies, especially in regions with vast land resources. It has, however, brought about profound impacts on climate change through terrestrial carbon stock change, including deforestation and peat loss. Kalimantan is a typical example of such disasters. For decades, Kalimantan has been suffering from extensive environmental degradation due to rampant timber extraction, uncontrolled fire and rapid oil palm expansion. In terms of terrestrial carbon stock loss, the island contributed roughly 400–700 Tg CO2 /year or 10–17% of global land-use emission
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