Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve REDD+
Sustainable Development Goals
Project Name:
Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve REDD+
Project Country:
Indonesia
Standards:
CCB, VCS
Area Of Neutralizaton:
Forestry and landscapes
Price Per Tonne:
Project Description
Protecting 65,000 hectares of tropical peat swamp from palm oil conversion by engaging local communities through education and agroforestry training. The first project to have been validated as contributing to all 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals by the SDVISta programme.
Based on the island of Borneo in Indonesia, this REDD+ project preserves carbon-dense tropical peat swamp by helping to halt deforestation of roughly 65,000 hectares of forest which was originally slated for conversion to palm oil plantations. The project focuses on both community development – encompassing 2,500 households living within the project area – and biodiversity conservation, particularly the protection of the 105,000 endangered Borneo Orangutans. In order to deliver on its goals, the project actively engages local communities to improve food security, income opportunities, health care, and education – all with the support of carbon finance.
In addition to delivering emissions reductions to help take urgent action to combat climate change (SDG 13), the project delivers a number of other sustainable development benefits. It has been verified by the SDVISta standard (which is run by Verra) to contribute to all 17 SDGs, these include:
- Life on Land: Indonesia has the largest number of threatened mammal species in the world and 55 threatened mammal species inhabit Rimba Raya biodiversity reserve. Adjacent to Tanjung Putting National Park, Rimba Raya provides an important natural buffer which strengthens the management capacity of the park. With the latest GPS technology, mobile phones are used to collect data during field surveys for biodiversity monitoring.
- Clean Water and Sanitation: Peatland environments regulate local water flows. By minimising land use change, the project is helping to prevent downstream flooding. Through local partnerships it is also training communities to manufacture and sell inexpensive water filtration devices, to provide clean drinking water to the entire population of over 2,500 households.
- Zero Hunger: Training on the growth of cash crops such as fruit trees offers communities an alternative source of income. Improved fishing technologies and agricultural training also helps improve food security.
- Decent Work and Economic Growth: The project is building community centres offering facilities for park and project staff as well as for community organisations. They will supply news and radio communication facilities, libraries, and social and agricultural training programmes.