Low-emission palm oil development in Berau Regency, East Kalimantan

Berau Regency lies in the province of East Kalimantan in the Indonesian part of Borneo – and 75% of the regency’s total area is still forested. However, part of the 1.6 million hectares of forest has now been approved for agricultural use. If these areas are converted into palm oil plantations, an additional 60 million tonnes of greenhouse gases could be produced. The project worked together with government institutions, representatives of the private sector industry and civil society to develop a sustainable palm oil programme at regency level and implement it as a model. This demonstrated the feasibility of large-scale sustainable cultivation. The project thus improved knowledge and resources in the regency government. The project results will serve as a model for other regencies and provinces, and as part of the regency-wide forest carbon storage programme, they will make a substantial contribution to the national and sub-national low-emission development strategy.

Project data

Countries: Indonesia
IKI funding: 4,378,559.53 €
Included preparation phase: 114,287.26 €
Duration: 03/2015 till 06/2022
Status: completed
Implementing organisation: The Nature Conservancy (TNC) - International
Political Partner: District Government of Berau - Indonesia

East Kalimantan Provincial Climate Change Center (DDPI) - Indonesia

East Kalimantan Provincial Estate Crops Office (Dinas Perkebunan Provinsi Kalimantan Timur)

Local Development Planning Agency Berau (BAPPEDA) - Indonesia

Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) - Indonesia

Ministry of Finance - Indonesia

State Ministry of National Development Planning (BAPPENAS) - Indonesia
Implementing Partner: Climate Policy Initiative (CPI)

Skip to Project data

State of implementation/results

Project completed.
At the end of the project, a final workshop was held at the end of June 2022, which served to further publicise the project results.
The project facilitated a workshop on providing technical assistance on the formulation of HCV management and monitoring plans in Tenggarong, June 16, 2022.
The Estate Crop agency of East Kalimantan and YKAN, held workshops to provide technical assistance to oil palm companies and Estate Crop Offices on how to use the online reporting system “SIP-Kebun” in May 2022 in Balikpapan.
A workshop on HCV data validation in the districts and the dissemination of the new governor regulations on HCV was held in 6 districts on mid-April 2022.
Following the issuance of the Governor Regulation on Criteria for Areas with High Conservation Value (HCV) in April 2021, the Governor Regulation No. 43/2021 concerning management, monitoring, and reporting of HCV areas in plantation areas was enacted on November 1, 2021.
At provincial level, a series of discussions to finalize the draft of Regional Action Plan for Sustainable Palm Oil Development have been conducted in October 2021 and in January 2022.
While at the Berau District level, discussions were held on November 4, 2021 to initiate the drafting of RAD-KSB document (Regional Action Plan for Sustainable Palm Oil Development).
The Forum for Sustainable Estate Crops at provincial and district levels conducted online seminars as follow:
- “Unraveling the Strategy of East Kalimantan Pepper Marketing in Global Market” (27 October 2021),
- “The Development Prospects of Palm Sugar for Food Needs in East Kalimantan” (14 March 2022),
- workshop on the HCV area at Berau district (October 21, 2021).
The activity of inventory, verification, and documentation of HCV area in 17 oil palm plantation companies in Berau have been completed by the end of December 2021. As a result, there is a total area of 4,314.6 hectares HCV/HCS located in the oil palm concession which has been identified, verified and documented.
The HCV network in Berau district was formed and declared on November 4, 2021, where the purpose of its formation was to develop a communication forum to build a multi-stakeholder cooperation in conducting the protection, management, and monitoring of high conservation value areas in Berau District.
YKAN has facilitated the election of the chairman for the Communication Forum on Sustainable Estate Crop in East Kalimantan on April 27, 2022, for 2022-2025. In this new period, the provincial Forum has agreed to support the development of sustainable estate crop by focusing on the improvement of agricultural practises for the independent smallholders and the HCV management across districts.
Berau Estate Crop Office, facilitated by the Berau Communication Forum on Sustainable Estate Crop, conducted a series of focused group discussions to synchronize District Regulation (Perda) Number 3 Year 2020 concerning Sustainable Estate Crop Development in Berau District with the Law of Job Creation year 2021. The final draft of synchronization has been submitted to the legislative process for the revision of Perda Number 3/2020.
During the reporting period, a public consultation was held to discuss draft report on the development of a roadmap implementation of the jurisdiction approach for sustainable certification in Berau District on January 19, 2022.
With support from the project, the Bupati (head) of Berau District issued two decrees to further develop the region's land-use governance capacity. Decree 213/2021 introduces suitability criteria embedded in the standard operating procedure (SoP) for the preliminary assessment of land-use related permit applications; Decree 256/2021 stipulates the SoP and the establishment of a district team responsible for land-use change monitoring.