September 1, 2022, Riau Province, Indonesia — As part of the AFoCO-Indonesia project on ‘Innovative Solutions for Climate Change and Biodiversity Landscape Strategy to Support SDGs in Indonesia (AFoCO/023/2021)‘, a three-day training targeted at GIS field practitioners operator was held in Pekanbaru City, Riau Province. The ‘GIS Training for SDGs Implementation and Spatial Analysis of FOLU Net Sink 2030’ was attended by some 20 participants from Forest Management Units (FMUs) and local forestry offices across Riau Province. With the aims of enhancing the capacities of FMUs in utilizing GIS tools and imparting an understanding of the concepts and methods applied in the development of Indonesia’s Forestry and Other Land Use (FOLU) Net Sink 2030, the training is one of the solutions to promote sustainable forest management practices and improve the capacities of FMUs and local stakeholders in mitigating climate change and increasing landscape biodiversity.
The Forestry and Other Land Use (FOLU) Net Sink 2030 is the newest forest policy in Indonesia that identifies the FOLU sector as a net sink. It refers to the condition where the level of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) absorption is equal to or higher than the 2030 emission levels through the FOLU sector. The policy also represents the Indonesian government’s commitment to the Paris Agreement. Through the Decree of the Minister of Environment and Forestry, the FOLU Net Sink Operational Plan is set as a technical guideline for achieving net-zero emissions.
An integral part of the FOLU operational plan preparation makes use of three main types of spatial information — maps of bio-geophysical indices (IBGF), (2) directional maps for optimizing forest utilization based on the environmental services index (IJL), and (3) maps of institutional typology of FMUs (TPH) that describe their socio-economic conditions and institutional capacities. Indexes such as the Location Priority Index (IPL), the Environmental Services Index (IJL), and the Institutional Index (IK) are used to consolidate a Forest Area Optimization Direction Map displaying the locations of 12 mitigation strategies. Not only will this spatial information be used to carry out policy reviews, but it will also contribute to the formulation of corrective actions directed at
- steering the direction of forest management (originally only focused on timber management) towards forest landscape management,
- resolving forest tenure conflicts,
- implementing community-based forest management through social forestry and partnership programs,
- internalizing the principles of environmental carrying capacity in the preparation of the Indonesian National Forestry Plan (RKTN) 2011-2030 as a macro-spatial direction for forestry development, and
- implementing a “green economy” policy to balance the additional economic value of forestry businesses and the use of environmental services while maintaining forest and environmental quality. [1]
The successful implementation of these corrective actions will lead to significant reductions in emissions levels in the forest and land use sectors.
The implementation of the FOLU Net Sink 2030 operational plan will require extensive resources and support from various stakeholders, including the FMUs (KPH) as the smallest unit at the site level. It is important that GIS data managers and field practitioners are well-equipped with a sound technical understanding of spatial analysis of FOLU Net Sink 2030 so as to ensure that the 2030 achievement target is in line with actual field conditions. This will also ensure that FMU contributions in achieving the targets can be measured and monitored as well.
References
[1] Ministry of Environment and Forestry. (2022). Indonesia’s Forestry and Other Land Use (FOLU) Net Sink 2030.
Contributed by Ayun Windyoningrum, Project Manager of AFoCO/023/2021, and Policy Analyst at the Center for Standardization of Sustainable Forest Management Instruments, Agency for Standardization of Environment and Forest Instruments, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Indonesia