APP plantations provide CO2 management: study

Conclusions from this research were based on a study carried out from September 2010 to March 2011 showing that the development of pulpwood plantations – or afforestation – on degraded peat land, or land that had been stripped of forest, can help the land sustainably recover contributing significantly to increased carbon absorption.

The Green Award, which was presented during a ceremony last month, was endorsed by the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry. The findings of the study, which showed a substantial rise in secondary and plantation forest cover over the period of the study, were highlighted.

Basuki Sumawinata, an academic from Bogor Agricultural University who jointly led the study, says, “The outputs of the study suggest that forest plantations are actually more effective than degraded wasteland, in terms of managing CO2 emissions. In turn, this puts greater emphasis on the importance of how forestry plantations are sustainably maintained to manage greenhouse gas emissions.”

Sumawinata continues, “Our study also shows a divergence from current thinking on greenhouse gas emissions. At present, considerable opinion suggests that emissions arise from the management of the plantations themselves, particularly from the creation of canals and the supposed drop in water levels from the soil in the plantation.”

According to Sumawinata the research indicates that that is not necessarily the case. The findings of the study actually suggested that the rate of greenhouse gas emissions from forestry plantations is largely controlled by natural phenomena, such as the decomposition of litter, like fallen leaves, as opposed to factors relating to the management of plantations.

The study was carried out on an area of land of about 600,000 hectares in South Sumatra that was largely destroyed by fire in 1997-98. Forest fires during the El Nino climate pattern were an ongoing phenomenon until early 2000, at which point forest cover in the area had been reduced by 80 per cent.

The area was then developed into a pulpwood plantation by APP’s pulpwood suppliers.

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