To Protect and Conserve: Enablers of Change
As rapid deforestation threatens biodiversity and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, embracing a multi-stakeholder landscape approach to conserving the environment and sustaining economic growth will prove vital for Indonesia, where rural communities and businesses depend on nature-based commodities and solutions.
Reducing deforestation is a priority for the Indonesian government, in parallel with sustainable economic development. In 2011, the government adopted a moratorium on the clearance of primary and peat forest. It was eventually made permanent in 2019.1 Following widespread forest fires in 2015, the government introduced new regulations, and deforestation has continued to decline due to a moratorium on new licenses for oil palm plantations, increased social forestry programs, land rehabilitation and high amounts of rainfall that have mitigated forest fires.
Those efforts, alongside corporate policies to stop deforestation, have yielded welcome results for a country that has lost 28.6 million hectares (18%) of its tree cover since 2000.2 In 2021, Indonesia recorded only 203,000 hectares of deforestation, an impressive 78% drop from the 2017 record high of 929,000 hectares.
“Forest conservation and putting a stop to deforestation requires a vast amount of knowledge, financial and operational support, and buy-in from local communities. So a multi-stakeholder approach is essential for delivering effective change,” said Anderson Tanoto, Managing Director at RGE, a global resource-based group of companies. “It involves the complexity of environmental, social and economic issues. Getting the ‘truth on the ground’ is key and achieving this is a collaborative effort.”
Innovative approaches and collaborations have emerged in Indonesia over the last decade that focus on the sustainable management of forests.
One such initiative is the Riau Ecosystem Restoration (RER) in Riau province on the island of Sumatra. Established in 2013 by APRIL – a major pulp and paper producer under RGE – in partnership with BIDARA and Fauna & Flora International, RER spans 150,693 hectares of ecologically vital peat forest on the Kampar Peninsula and Padang Island.
The RER is surrounded by APRIL’s fiber plantations, which serve as a protective ring for the peat forest restoration area, providing a physical buffer from potential threats such as illegal logging and fire. As a production area, the fiber plantations also fund the ecosystem restoration by supplying a renewable source of raw material for APRIL’s pulp and paper business.
“We apply a $1-per-ton tariff on every delivered ton of fiber, which directly funded our conservation work last year; that was $11.7 million in 2021,” said Craig Tribolet, Sustainability Operations Manager at APRIL. This economic model is proving to be a highly effective approach to ensure reliable and sustainable financing is available for forest restoration in Indonesia.
The conservation effort itself has been immense. Since 2013, 874 hectares of remote and highly degraded forest that require active restoration through tree planting have been identified, while 169 hectares have been restored by planting more than 50,000 seedlings. Some 9,300 hectares of peat forest have been re-wetted through the construction of 79 hand-built dams to block 92 miles (149 km) of old drainage canals. Bespoke measures were implemented to protect against new forest encroachment, while engaging local communities to foster more sustainable fishing and farming practices. More than 800 plant and animal species have since been identified, including the critically endangered Sumatran tiger and the Sunda pangolin.
RER teams also supported the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to return a tiger, named Corina, into the RER concession area on the Kampar Peninsula after she was rescued from a trap near a community rubber plantation. Corina was fitted with a GPS collar to monitor her behavior and understand how and where she establishes her home territory.
“I’ve been a keen observer of efforts to conserve Indonesia’s forests for several decades,” said Jeffrey Sayer, Professor of Tropical Forest Conservation at the University of British Columbia. “The restoration and conservation efforts by APRIL on the Kampar Peninsula stand out as truly impressive.
“The peat forests of the RER concessions are unique because of their high biodiversity value and are now among the most well protected and managed forest areas in Sumatra,” Sayer said. “Navigating the narrow, clean-flowing rivers that meander through the peat swamps is one of Indonesia’s outstanding nature experiences. I hope the success of the RER initiative inspires other companies to implement similar conservation activities elsewhere.”
Local participation in the project has been critical. More than 80% of the RER’s workforce is drawn from Riau province, which helps to build trust and a greater understanding of restoration and conservation.3
“My parents took resources unsustainably from the forest where I now work,” said 34-year-old Hendrizal, one of 56 security rangers working in the RER. “I want to pay for that mistake, making sure each one of the trees is protected and grows as strong as they can.”
Another ecological hotspot where the public and private sector has come together is China’s largest freshwater source, Lake Poyang.
Located in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, the lake plays a vital role in regulating flooding from the mighty Yangtze River and provides water and jobs for more than 45 million people in the region. It is also a globally important habitat for migrating birds such as Siberian cranes, as well as the finless porpoise, a species so endangered that the Chinese government moved eight of them to a secure location to safeguard their existence.4
The lake’s ecosystem has deteriorated in recent years due to climate change and human activities such as overfishing, wastewater discharge, and encroachment into the shallow fringes of the area’s wetlands. This has decimated many fish species, and diminished water supplies and quality.
Another RGE company – plant-based-fiber producer Sateri – operates in Jiangxi and has been involved in conservation efforts at Poyang alongside Conservation International and the provincial government.
The partnership, which began in 2019, is built around Conservation International's Freshwater Health Index,5 a tool that enables decision-makers to identify, rank and prioritize the biggest challenges to the lake's health. This can then inform how the lake’s ecosystem is managed, ensuring that its resources are used sustainably.
Dr Richard Jeo, Senior Vice President of Asia-Pacific Field Division, Conservation International said, “Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, is a critical habitat for many migratory birds and provides drinking water for over three million people. The greater Poyang ecosystem also supports a variety of industries and many human activities which, along with climate change, have degraded these vast wetlands, and caused grave concerns for the unique biodiversity and freshwater security for communities. Ensuring the ecological health of Poyang Lake is a mammoth task, but with a multi-stakeholder approach between government, the private sector and communities, we can create the lasting change needed to ensure the lake supports generations to come, in line with President Xi’s vision of an ecological civilization.”
For RGE and other companies, future success rests on their continued commitment to protect and conserve the environments they operate in.
“Protecting the climate is a natural extension of environmental conservation,” said RGE’s Tanoto. “Given the urgency of the global fight against climate change, we can enable real change on the ground through our sustainable production practices, responsible management of natural resources, active conservation and restoration efforts and ensuring local populations embrace cleaner, greener ways of living on the land. This way, everyone is better off and we can enjoy a cleaner, greener future.”
