The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve REDD Project

and top global rates at 3.5-­‐5%. Oil palm companies prefer toestablish plantations on forested land, first logging valuabletimber, and then using logging revenues to fund their operations.Often, companies will exploit discrepancies in the landclassification and permitting processes between national andlocal governments to obtain additional land. A recent study byGreenomics Indonesia showed that about 18.4 million hectaresof forest concession areas had been occupied illegally, mostly byplantation and mining companies that were granted permits byregents (Simamora 2008). The study warned that deforestationwould increase if the government failed to resolve overlappingpermits from government agencies.Provincial Perspective. The relationship between oil palmplantation development and deforestation is having devastatingeffects on natural resources at the provincial level. According toa study by Forest Watch Indonesia last year, Central Kalimantan'sforests are being converted into oil palm plantations at thefastest rate in the country. In a recent 16-­‐year period, the rate offorest to plantation conversion surged more than 400 times,from 1,163 hectares per year in 1991 to 461,992 hectares peryear in 2007 (Simamora, 2009a). The study also found that 14percent of 3 million hectares of peat land in the province hadalready been converted to oil palm plantations (Simamora2009a). This represented a 5.42% annual loss of peatland forestsbetween 2002 and 2005 (Langner et al. 2006).Taken together, these statistics paint a grim picture of the realityon the ground. Still more worrying is the sense that these trendsare accelerating. The Ministry of Forestry indicated recently thatit has received a mounting number of requests from localadministrations for permits to convert Indonesia's dwindlingforests into plantations, mostly due to uncertainty surroundingthe spatial planning law (Simamora, 2009a).Ministry senior official Soenaryo said the most controversialproposal had come from Central Kalimantan despite conflict withthe spatial planning law. Central Kalimantan has asked to convertabout 2.5 million hectares of forest. “We know CentralKalimantan has violated the law, but they justify their demandfor the central government's approval for the forest conversionunder a regional ordinance and other regulations,” he said(Simamora, 2009a)In Central Kalimantan 461,992 hectares of forest wereconverted to plantation in 2007 -­‐ a rate 400 times greaterthan forest to plantation conversion in 1991(Simamora 2009a).A recent study found that the annual deforestation ratefor peat soil areas of Central Kalimantan between 2002and 2005 was 5.42% (Langner et al. 2006).Protected areas are not exempt from this assault, as they containsome of the most highly valuable timber resources stillremaining, making them a target for exploitation. Althoughprotection laws are in place throughout Borneo, these are ofteninadequate or unenforced. One satellite study shows that morethan 56 percent (>29,000 km 2 ) of protected lowland forests inKalimantan were cut down between 1985 and 2001 (Curran et al.2004). Focusing on one protected area, Gunung Palung NationalPark, West Kalimantan, the study shows that 38 percent oflowlands inside the park, and more than 70 percent of lowlandsin the surrounding 10-­‐km park buffer were deforested from 198899