Low-emissions oil palm development in Berau District, East Kalimantan

In recent years, there has been an increase in the global demand for palm oil, which is also used in the production of food and cosmetics – and in countries like Indonesia, oil palm planting and cultivation has increased as a result. These plantations often displace other land uses and this leads to socio-economic and ecological problems. The project brought government institutions, private sector companies and civil society groups together to design and piloted a programme for sustainable, low-emission palm oil development. This showed the palm oil-producing countries that responsible production is possible. Socio-economic and ecological analyses as well as policy dialogues at provincial level provided information on sustainable palm oil production. Policy recommendations also were made for programme development and implementation at administrative level.

Project data

Countries: Indonesia
IKI funding: 1,830,000.00 €
Duration: 09/2017 till 06/2022
Status: completed
Implementing organisation: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Political Partner: District Government of Berau - Indonesia

East Kalimantan Provincial Climate Change Center (DDPI) - Indonesia

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)

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) - Indonesia

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State of implementation/results

Project completed.
Representatives of Berau District Government, a bank, eight palm oil concessions or mills, smallholders, and civil society organisations signed a declaration supporting the “District Sustainable Plantation Plan 2021-2045” on 6 October 2021. The plan sets aside 83,000 ha of forested indicative HCV areas inside the plantation zone and promotes the use of agricultural waste for renewable energy generation.
The Berau District Government officially included the net-zero deforestation ambition in its mid-term development plan 2021-2026, which was published on 29 November 2021. It consists of a program to encourage oil palm companies to identify and manage high conservation value (HCV) areas inside their con-cessions.
Eleven palm oil companies verbally confirmed their agreement to enter into a sustainable supply chain partnership agreement with their supplying smallholders (800 farmers, 2500 ha of farm area). The mills will support the farmers by providing farm advisory services, affordable agricultural inputs, and transparent palm fruit procurement while preserving the HCV areas. Two of the eleven mills also shared their interests to support smallholders in mapping and data collection for traceability. The confirmation was stated during a workshop led by the Estate Crop Office of Berau District Government on 23 February 2022.
The East Kalimantan Governor enacted Regulation 42/2021 on high conservation value (HCV) area management on 1 November 2021. The regulation accommodated the project's inputs to integrate HCV identification and management into the environmental impact assessment at site level and region-wide strategic environmental assessment.
Public relations activities:
- An article about land use conflict management in sustainable palm oil, as a joint publication with the Nature Conservancy (TNC), has been published on the IKI website (www.international-climate-initiative.com/…).
- The Berau District's head presented the web-based screening tool for land suitability assessment ("Pratinjau") as part of the licensing process to protect HCV areas - developed with the project's support - in the Indonesian Pavilion during the COP 26 in Glasgow on 12 November 2021. The same initiative was also shared during the Indonesia IKI Networking Workshop on 10 February 2022 (kaltimprov.go.id/…).
- The project contributed to the 15th and 16th editions of the IKI Newsletter Indonesia regarding the HCV area management planning and monitoring and company-community sustainable supply chain partnerships.

Latest Update:
03/2025