Improving community-based carbon-stock monitoring: lessons from Batu Majang, East Kalimantan, Indonesia

The Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradationplus conservation (REDD+) mechanism that was introducedunder the United Nations Framework Convention on ClimateChange has involved reducing emissions from deforestation andforest degradation, conserving forest carbon-stock, enhancingforest carbon-stock, practising sustainable forest management andconserving biodiversity (Brofeldt et al 2014). Communities thatsurround a forest and interact with it on a daily basis, who wellunderstand the condition of the forest and who receive benefitsfrom it are potential contributors to REDD+ activities.
Batu Majang Village, located in an enclave of a private concessionforest in Mahakam Hulu District in East Kalimantan Province,Indonesia, proposed to conserve a patch of about 500 ha of forestas ‘customary forest’ owing to the environmental services providedby the forest, such as water, timber, medicines and erosioncontrol. This customary forest, thus, also became a strategic areafor conserving carbon stock and the biodiversity of indigenousor endemic commercial timber and animal species, such as thehornbill, a cultural and ecological symbol of Kalimantan.