BUSINESS
JAKARTA (FORESTHINTS.NEWS) - The Indonesian province of Riau, historically rich in peat forests and home to extensive pulpwood supply chains, retains fairly significant swathes of these peat forests as of mid-January 2021, the majority of which lie in production forests and conservation areas.
The extent of these peat forests in the province is considered to still be quite significant as there remain hundreds of thousands of hectares, all of which serve as a source of carbon sequestration and thus play a role in addressing the global climate crisis.
2019 land cover data from Indonesia's Ministry of Environment and Forestry show that there are in fact still more than 1.53 million hectares of remaining natural forests - both primary and secondary - across Riau, the equivalent of about 21 times the size of Singapore.
Of these remaining natural forests, which consist of primary and secondary dry land along with peat and mangrove forests, close to 950 thousand hectares, or nearly 62% of Riau’s total remaining natural forests in 2019, are peat forests.
As for these almost 950 thousand hectares of peat forests remaining in 2019, equivalent to around 13 times the size of Singapore, approximately 75% of them are found in production forests, particularly in ecosystem restoration, logging and pulpwood concessions. Meanwhile, the other roughly 25% are predominantly spread among conservation areas.
In terms of legal status, over 96% of all Riau’s 2019 remaining natural forests are situated in state forest areas under the authority of the ministry.
Latest update
As a case study, USGS Landsat 8 and ESA Sentinel 2 satellite images until mid-January 2021 were used by the FORESTHINTS.NEWS spatial team to take a closer look at the remaining peat forests in five major peat hydrological landscapes (KHGs) spread across mainland Riau covering an area of more than 2.76 million hectares - about 38 times the size of Singapore.
These five KHGs constitute the province’s major pulpwood supply chains under the pulp and paper giants APP and APRIL groups.
The results of these spatial checks indicate that about 860 thousand hectares of natural forests (areas in light green) - almost all of which are peat forests and less than 5% mangrove forests - remained in the five KHGs as of mid-January 2021, an area equivalent to nearly 12 times the size of Singapore, as seen in the following image.
The remaining peat forests in the five KHGs as of mid-January 2021 are unquestionably still substantial given that they make up close to 90% of 2019’s total peat forests remaining in Riau province - just about 860 thousand hectares out of nearly 950 thousand hectares.
Over 74% of these roughly 860 thousand hectares consist of production forests, major parts of which are located in ecosystem restoration, logging and pulpwood concessions.
Peat forests in peat domes
With reference to APP-Deltares’ peat LiDAR mapping, over 630 thousand hectares of peat domes, or more than 8.5 times the size of Singapore, have been identified (delineated in yellow) across the five KHGs (delineated in white), as displayed in the image below.
As seen in the above image, it should be noted that over 600 thousand hectares of these peat dome areas, or more than 96%, fall into state forest areas legally controlled by the ministry. Over three quarters of these peat domes are in production forests and most of the rest in conservation areas, with a small portion in non-state forest areas.
Spatial checks, once again using a set of USGS Landsat 8 and ESA Sentinel 2 satellite images up until mid-January 2021, were also carried out to see the level of peat forest cover in the peat domes identified by the LiDAR mapping.
The results demonstrate that the remaining peat forests in these peat domes amounted to more than 425 thousand hectares (areas in light green), or nearly 68% of the total LiDAR mapping-identified peat dome areas and equivalent to almost 6 times the size of Singapore, as shown in the following image.
The image above shows that the area of these remaining peat forests in the peat domes is around 50% of the total area of peat forests in the five KHGs.
It is also worth noting that nearly all of these natural forests, virtually all of which are peat forests - both those inside and outside the peat dome areas in the five KHGs - are legally protected, given significant parts of them are composed of conservation areas, ecosystem restoration concessions as well as areas set aside for protection purposes by pulpwood and logging concessions.
As such, the substantial amount of peat forests remaining in Riau province, particularly those in the five KHGs discussed in this news report, are legally secured to continue playing an important role, most notably in carbon sequestration.
Haze causing fires, business performance
As previously reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS in December 2020, there are close to zero burned areas in the LiDAR mapping-identified peat dome locations linked to the supply chains of the pulp and paper industry. These cover 971,090 hectares, or over 13 times the size of Singapore, in the Sumatran provinces of Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra.
In fact, during the ongoing global pandemic, the pulp and paper industry has been able to increase its production of pulpwood sourced from its supply chains in pulpwood concessions across Sumatra and Kalimantan, even surpassing its 2019 performance, as reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Jan 12).
Despite the pandemic, the export performance of the industry fell by less than 9% in 2020 and still contributed to over half of the total value of Indonesia's forestry exports, as also covered by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Jan 7).
This year, as the pandemic persists, Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya is continuing to strive, among many other things, to avoid lay-offs in the forestry business sector to the greatest extent possible, as reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS in late December 2020.
Like last year, priorities are still aimed at ensuring the upstream and downstream forestry business sectors survive the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic, by maintaining forestry exports and keeping up the positive level of forestry industry growth towards national GDP.
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BUSINESS
JAKARTA (FORESTHINTS.NEWS) - The Indonesian province of Riau, historically rich in peat forests and home to extensive pulpwood supply chains, retains fairly significant swathes of these peat forests as of mid-January 2021, the majority of which lie in production forests and conservation areas.
The extent of these peat forests in the province is considered to still be quite significant as there remain hundreds of thousands of hectares, all of which serve as a source of carbon sequestration and thus play a role in addressing the global climate crisis.
2019 land cover data from Indonesia's Ministry of Environment and Forestry show that there are in fact still more than 1.53 million hectares of remaining natural forests - both primary and secondary - across Riau, the equivalent of about 21 times the size of Singapore.
Of these remaining natural forests, which consist of primary and secondary dry land along with peat and mangrove forests, close to 950 thousand hectares, or nearly 62% of Riau’s total remaining natural forests in 2019, are peat forests.
As for these almost 950 thousand hectares of peat forests remaining in 2019, equivalent to around 13 times the size of Singapore, approximately 75% of them are found in production forests, particularly in ecosystem restoration, logging and pulpwood concessions. Meanwhile, the other roughly 25% are predominantly spread among conservation areas.
In terms of legal status, over 96% of all Riau’s 2019 remaining natural forests are situated in state forest areas under the authority of the ministry.
Latest update
As a case study, USGS Landsat 8 and ESA Sentinel 2 satellite images until mid-January 2021 were used by the FORESTHINTS.NEWS spatial team to take a closer look at the remaining peat forests in five major peat hydrological landscapes (KHGs) spread across mainland Riau covering an area of more than 2.76 million hectares - about 38 times the size of Singapore.
These five KHGs constitute the province’s major pulpwood supply chains under the pulp and paper giants APP and APRIL groups.
The results of these spatial checks indicate that about 860 thousand hectares of natural forests (areas in light green) - almost all of which are peat forests and less than 5% mangrove forests - remained in the five KHGs as of mid-January 2021, an area equivalent to nearly 12 times the size of Singapore, as seen in the following image.
The remaining peat forests in the five KHGs as of mid-January 2021 are unquestionably still substantial given that they make up close to 90% of 2019’s total peat forests remaining in Riau province - just about 860 thousand hectares out of nearly 950 thousand hectares.
Over 74% of these roughly 860 thousand hectares consist of production forests, major parts of which are located in ecosystem restoration, logging and pulpwood concessions.
Peat forests in peat domes
With reference to APP-Deltares’ peat LiDAR mapping, over 630 thousand hectares of peat domes, or more than 8.5 times the size of Singapore, have been identified (delineated in yellow) across the five KHGs (delineated in white), as displayed in the image below.
As seen in the above image, it should be noted that over 600 thousand hectares of these peat dome areas, or more than 96%, fall into state forest areas legally controlled by the ministry. Over three quarters of these peat domes are in production forests and most of the rest in conservation areas, with a small portion in non-state forest areas.
Spatial checks, once again using a set of USGS Landsat 8 and ESA Sentinel 2 satellite images up until mid-January 2021, were also carried out to see the level of peat forest cover in the peat domes identified by the LiDAR mapping.
The results demonstrate that the remaining peat forests in these peat domes amounted to more than 425 thousand hectares (areas in light green), or nearly 68% of the total LiDAR mapping-identified peat dome areas and equivalent to almost 6 times the size of Singapore, as shown in the following image.
The image above shows that the area of these remaining peat forests in the peat domes is around 50% of the total area of peat forests in the five KHGs.
It is also worth noting that nearly all of these natural forests, virtually all of which are peat forests - both those inside and outside the peat dome areas in the five KHGs - are legally protected, given significant parts of them are composed of conservation areas, ecosystem restoration concessions as well as areas set aside for protection purposes by pulpwood and logging concessions.
As such, the substantial amount of peat forests remaining in Riau province, particularly those in the five KHGs discussed in this news report, are legally secured to continue playing an important role, most notably in carbon sequestration.
Haze causing fires, business performance
As previously reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS in December 2020, there are close to zero burned areas in the LiDAR mapping-identified peat dome locations linked to the supply chains of the pulp and paper industry. These cover 971,090 hectares, or over 13 times the size of Singapore, in the Sumatran provinces of Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra.
In fact, during the ongoing global pandemic, the pulp and paper industry has been able to increase its production of pulpwood sourced from its supply chains in pulpwood concessions across Sumatra and Kalimantan, even surpassing its 2019 performance, as reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Jan 12).
Despite the pandemic, the export performance of the industry fell by less than 9% in 2020 and still contributed to over half of the total value of Indonesia's forestry exports, as also covered by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Jan 7).
This year, as the pandemic persists, Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya is continuing to strive, among many other things, to avoid lay-offs in the forestry business sector to the greatest extent possible, as reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS in late December 2020.
Like last year, priorities are still aimed at ensuring the upstream and downstream forestry business sectors survive the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic, by maintaining forestry exports and keeping up the positive level of forestry industry growth towards national GDP.
RELATED STORIES
