LESTARI …. “everlasting”

LESTARI (meaning everlasting in Bahasa Indonesia) is the current sustainable forest management project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This project is designed to support the Indonesian government in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and conserving biodiversity in carbon rich and biologically significant forest and mangrove ecosystems.

The project builds on the foundation laid by USAID’s previous Indonesia Forest and Climate Support (IFACS) project, which supported effective governance and forest management processes in targeted landscapes. To read more on the LESTARI project, go to http://www.lestari-indonesia.org.

TFF has a sub-contract to deliver RIL training to 6 forest concessions in two landscapes, one in Central Kalimantan and one in Papua. The training combined with an reduced impact logging (RIL) demonstration in each landscape, features an initial evaluation of general compliance with the TFF criteria & indicators and a detailed assessment of carbon emissions from current harvesting practices.

After completion of the RIL training, a similar evaluation will be carried out to determine any possible reductions in emissions which could be credited to the adoption of RIL practices.

Survey of skid trails, evaluation of ‘avoidable’ waste, and assessment of other impact parameters are part of the protocol to determine carbon emissions prior to the start of RIL training

One comparative study will also be conducted in each landscape to evaluate the costs and benefits of RIL compared to conventional, business-as-usual practices. The initial benchmark evaluation reports for concessions in the two landscapes are now available for review: “Pre-training carbon audit report-C.Kalimantan” and “Pre-training carbon audit report-Papua”.