Khor Reports: HCS implies net
area of 45% for Kalimantan plantations?
This
morning, GAR and SMART made an announcement on its implementation of its pilot
on High Carbon Stock (HCS) forest conservation. Here is Khor Reports’ quick review
of GAR/SMART’s HCS issues and implications for the palm oil industry.
For the pilot,
“HCS is defined as comprising BT, HK1, HK2 and HK3 areas”. Thus, all types of
forest (high, medium and low density) as well as old scrub lands cannot be
developed. Only “young scrub” and “cleared / open land” can be utilized. Thus, despite
industry rumours of a higher ceiling that would be less of a constraint for oil
palm development, it appears that the NGO-preferred 35tC/ha ceiling still
applies. GAR/SMART’s preliminary study in June 2012, which was done together
with certification facilitator The Forest Trust and Greenpeace, found the weighted
average carbon stock in four Kalimantan concessions in degraded lands in tC/ha:
17 in cleared / open land, 27 in young scrub, 60 in old scrub, 107 in low
density forest, 166 in medium density forest, and 192 in high density forest.
a)
In unplanted
areas, 19,103 ha to be set aside for HCS (highlighted with yellow marker on slide #18). Add on 25,567 ha unplantable for reasons
of HCV, peat and government regulations (slide #17). Total of 35% set-aside area of total
concession.
b)
Add on (minimum)
20% area for smallholder / plasma schemes. The net area for the plantation / nucleus
could be 45%?*
* And this is in partially developed concession areas; area usable
in “new” concession areas could be lower assuming some HCS inadvertently cleared
in the past.
source: "GAR and SMART implement pilot on High Carbon Stock forest conservation"
With this ground-truthing
of satellite image mapping for Kalimantan degraded areas, NGOs may be more
confident to make advanced (and even historical) studies to inform plantation
companies on estimated HCS set asides they should have (or might have had) in
place. As we have mentioned before, we think this is a pre-cursor to a push for
rural land use planning which has been generally lacking in Southeast Asia. NGOs
appear well advanced in using satellite imagery for studying oil palm developments. Other issues arising would be connectivity of HCS areas and the need for 100 meter connectivity buffer corridors (see slide #31 below).
source: "GAR and SMART implement pilot on High Carbon Stock forest conservation"
The HCS
ceiling is fundamental to arresting deforestation. It seems a low key issue,
but it will be a thorny question for plantations on the usability of their land
banks. Elsewhere, Norway (population 4.9 million) has also been highlighting
concerns about palm oil’s impact on deforestation, perhaps in less impactful
but highly symbolic ways; weblink:http://khorreports-palmoil.blogspot.com/2013/03/norway-goes-cold-on-palm-oil.html
Also refer to Khor Reports on details of preliminary HCS report findings in GAR/SMART-TFT-Greenpeace report: Khor Reports Palm Oil Strategic Analysis #7, 11 June 2012, "Carbon Stocks Study Presages Problems for Plantations." Ask for a copy if you don't have it yet.
Info source: Golden
Agri-Resources Ltd: "GAR and SMART implement pilot on High Carbon Stock forest
conservation," 13 March 2013.
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