Central Kalimantan Province, Indonesia
Pilot Description
Central Kalimantan Province
Indonesia’s size, tropical climate, and archipelagic geography support one of the world’s highest levels of biodiversity, and it is among the 17 megadiverse countries identified by Conservation International. Over 25 thousand flowering plants comprise 10 percent of the world’s flowering plant species. Five hundred mammalian species, 600 reptilian species, some 1,500 species of birds, some 270 species of amphibians, and over 2,500 species of fish, constituting 45 percent of the world’s fish species. Indonesia is second only to Australia in terms of total endemic species, with 36% of its 1,531 species of bird and 39% of its 515 species of mammal being endemic.
Based on data from the Directorate General of Forestry Planning and Environmental Management (Planologi Kehutanan dan Tata Lingkungan), Ministry of Environment and Forestry (Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan), Indonesia has 94.1 million hectares of forested land area (50.1 percent of the entire mainland). Indonesia is the second-largest country in the world with the largest peat area after Brazil, with 22.5 million hectares (www2.cifor.org/global-wetlands/), making Indonesia a country capable of absorbing 30% of the world’s carbon.
Indonesia has 34 provinces, one of them being Central Kalimantan Province. This province is located on Borneo Island. The capital city is Kota Palangka Raya. According to Central Bureau of Statistics of Central Kalimantan, in 2021 the cover area of Central Kalimantan is 15,356,450 ha. Central Bureau of Statistics of Central Kalimantan also shows the population of this province in 2020 is 2,670,000 (1,385,700 men and 1,284,300 women).
Central Kalimantan has extensive forests. The forest area in Central Kalimantan is 12,561,867.57 ha. It is the second largest in Indonesia after Papua Province. According to the website inarisk.bnpb.go.id, Central Kalimantan is one area that has a high potential for forest fires. The incidence of forest fires in the Central Kalimantan Province recorded at sipongi.menlhk.go.id from 2017 to 2021 are as follows 1,744; 47,433; 317,749; 7,681; and 3,653 Ha. The incidence of major fires occurred in 2019 and declined sharply in 2020 and 2021.
To preserve tropical peat forests, the Minister of Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia, through Minister of Forestry Decree No. 423/Menhut-II/2004, designates the Sebangau area in Central Kalimantan Province as a National Park with an area of 568,700 hectares. Sebangau National Park is the largest tropical peat forest conservation area in Indonesia, with variations in peat depth between 1 meter to 12 meters and up to 14 meters at some points.
Sebangau National Park is geographically located at 1° 55′ 14.80″ – 3° 02′ 32.71″ South Latitude and 113° 18′ 22.71″ – 114° 04′ 36.58″ East Longitude. Administratively it is in Katingan Regency, Pulang Pisau Regency, and Kota Palangka Raya in Central Kalimantan Province. Sebangau National Park (Taman Nasional Sebangau) is the only national park in Indonesia where more than 90% of its area is a peat ecosystem. This national park management office is located on Jalan Mahir Mahar KM. 1.2, Paduran Sabangau, Sebangau Kuala, Paduran Sabangau, Kec. Sebangau Kuala, Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan 74874. Complete information about the Sebangau National Park can be accessed at tnsebangau.com.
From July to September 2019, there were 125 hectares of fire in the Sebangau National Park area. During these three months, 141 hotspots were monitored. This burned land is not a stretch, but only on a small scale. However, as a result, many trees fall. The fire also threatens the life of endangered animals in the forest, such as gibbons, orangutans, macaques, pangolins, thongs, and more. So, Sebangau National Park needs to pay attention.
SILVANUS team visited the Sebangau National Park in November 2023, at the Koran river, where project members reached the site in the pristine jungle by boat. The contributions of SILVANUS platform to biodiversity restoration in the area were discussed with the stakeholders, along with policy recommendation and technical modelling which would help firefighters, first responders and other stakeholders to assess the fire danger and reduce the threat.
