The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve REDD Project

B1.4. Project Activities and Non-Native SpeciesDescribe possible adverse effects of non-­‐native species used by theproject on the region’s environment, including impacts on native speciesand disease introduction or facilitation. Project proponents must justifyany use of non-­‐native species over native species.N/AB1.5. Project Activities and GMOsGuarantee that no GMOs will be used to generate GHG emissionsreductions or removals.Project proponents guarantee that no GMOs will be used togenerate GHG emission reductions or removals.B2. Offsite Biodiversity ImpactsB2.1. Potential Negative Offsite Biodiversity ImpactsIdentify potential negative offsite biodiversity impacts that the project islikely to cause.The project is unlikely to have any negative impacts onbiodiversity outside the Project Zone resulting directly fromproject activities. There is the possibility for activities currentlyactive in, or slated for, the Project Area to be displaced intoneighboring areas or other parts of Kalimantan. For example, oilpalm companies that are unable to operate in the Project Area(as a result of the project) may purchase licenses to operate inneighboring areas, having a clear negative impact on biodiversityin that area. Similarly, illegal logging currently taking place in theProject Area may be displaced into other neighboring areas,intensifying damage to these areas.At a landscape spatial scale, oil palm development and illegallogging will continue to spread into other areas regardless ofproject activities in the Project Area. This can be argued based onthe current distribution of both activities in and near the ProjectZone, existing oil palm licenses in the region, local developmentplans for a major Crude Palm Oil export facility on the southerncoast of the Project Area and ongoing expansion of both activitiesacross Kalimantan. For oil palm, current land use planning inKalimantan, current and predicted expansion rates for oil palm inKalimantan, and continued market demand for this relativelyinexpensive oil indicate that oil palm will continue its rapidexpansion. For illegal logging, a lack of enforcement ofIndonesian laws limiting unpermitted logging and timber export,and continuing global markets for cheap, illegal wood, indicatethat this threat to biodiversity will also continue.The project’s presence may shift the spatio-­‐temporal dynamicsand/or intensity of when these activities reach other areas in theimmediate vicinity, but given the full range of factors driving oilpalm expansion mentioned above, the incremental impact withinthe Project Zone and adjacent areas is likely to be small. Onepossible exception is the short-­‐term response of the four oil palmcompanies whose licenses are retired if the project isimplemented as planned. If these licenses are simply retiredthrough a commercial transaction, then off-­‐site biodiversityimpacts will be zero. If a license swap is pursued, whereby thecurrent licenses are retired and/or traded for licenses in newareas, then biodiversity impacts in these new areas will be265