FORCLIME continues cooperation and capacity development in the field of SFM through forest certification (SVLK/ PHPL/ FSC) in the FMU Berau Barat by collaborating with The Borneo Initiative (TBI) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). The team conducted site visits in three forest concessions within the FMU Berau Barat from September 28th until October 7th. The three forest concessions visited are PT. Utama Damai Timber (UDIT), PT. Wana Bhakti Utama (WBPU) and PT Aditya Kirana Mandiri (AKM).

The goal of fostering SFM and FMU development is tackled by intensively working together with sustainability certifiers aiming at involving local communities and the private sector. The activities include technical trainings, social impact studies and community participation. The studies, trainings and activities, that aim to being awarded one of the above mentioned forest certifications, are being monitored and supervised by a certification coach. Depending on the development of the forest concessions and their experience in SFM, the process of receiving the SFM forest certification varies individually. Some decisive factors include experience and start-up investment (e.g. forest and basic infrastructure in virgin natural production forests), which means there are major variations regarding the duration of operations in the concessions; some operate for more than 30 years already whereas others started operations only 5 years ago.

In terms of forest operations and Reduced Impact Logging to reduce emissions (RIL-C), all three concessions received the full RIL training. This has resulted in at least 25% emission reduction on 136,000 ha, according to the TNC Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) methodology.

For further information, please contact:
Tobias Goedde, Strategic Area Manager for Sustainable Forest Management
Suprianto, Technical Advisor for FMU development, Berau office