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"Forest carbon is a new market in which Macquarie expects strong growth in line with anticipated changes to global climate change agreements. We are pleased to be working with the Katingan project, which aims to be a world leading demonstration of how forests can be retained by using carbon finance."

~Oliver Yates, head of climate change, Macquarie Capital Adviser Ltd of Australia

Projects

Katingan Peat Forest Restoration Project

Clients: PT. Rimba Makmur Utama, Clinton Climate Initiative-Forestry
Partners: Yayasan Puter, Universitas Palangkaraya, Terra Global Capital

Project overview

Starling Resources is leading the development of an avoided deforestation and ecosystem restoration project in a 200,000+-hectare peat forest in Central Kalimantan with our private sector partner PT Rimba Makmur Utama (PT RMU) as the REDD project proponent.

Total area: 200,000+ hectares
Land tenure: Ecosystem Restoration Permit
Threats: Illegal logging, illegal mining, forest conversion, encroachment, forest fires, etc.
Wildlife: 6th largest Orangutan population in the world
Standards: Climate Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) and Voluntary Carbon Standards (VCS)

Challenges

Tropical peatlands store huge amount of carbon. In the past decades, tropical peatlands have been drained, logged and converted into palm oil plantation, monoculture forest plantation, and the other agriculture us. When peatlands are degraded, they release CO2 to the atmosphere due to the oxidation of the peat materials as well as become more prone to fires (Hooijer et. al. 2006). In terms of reducing emission from forest deforestation and degradation, tropical peatlands present both a great challenge and opportunity.

Approach and Outcome

The Starling team supports the design and development of this comprehensive REDD project. Since the beginning, Starling has coordinated and conducted necessary site selection and feasibility studies and assisted PT. RMU in developing the technical proposal for ecosystem restoration submitted to the Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia as one of the requirements for the concession application.

Working with partners (e.g., Clinton Climate Initiative, Yayasan Puter, Universitas Palangkaraya, Terra Global Capital), Starling is now developing the project design document (PDD) to achieve compliance against the Climate Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) and Voluntary Carbon Standards (VCS) requirements. The project is currently conducting field surveys to support carbon accounting and biodiversity analysis while at the same time working with communities to develop bottom-up project design. Specific project activities include GIS baseline analysis, field surveys for carbon accounting, community consultation for free, prior and informed consent process, and community livelihoods design, among others.