Indonesia
Carbon Removal
Afforestation, Reforestation and Nature Preservation
The project in southwest Borneo covers one of the largest remaining peat swamp forests in Indonesia. It aims at restoring 149k hectares of peatland ecosystems to offer a habitat for endangered species such as the Bornean Orangutan and works with local communities to devise sustainable income sources.
Peatlands store up to 20 times more carbon than non-peat soils. Naturally, a large part of the peat consists of water that covers plant litter sinking to the ground. Under oxygen-free conditions, this will store the plant litter's sequestered CO₂ for years. However, when the peat is drained, the CO₂ is released turning the peatland into a large source of CO₂. Protecting and re-establishing peatland is hence an effective way to remove carbon from the atmosphere.
Indonesia is home to around 36% of the global peatland. However, about half of the country's peatland is now degraded as a result of the expansion of industrial plantations releasing a tremendous amount of CO₂. The Katingan Peatland Restoration and Conservation project covers almost 150k hectares of peatland. By protecting this area, the project avoids and removes around 7.45M tons of GHG emissions per year.
Indonesia
