Carbon balance of plywood from a social reforestation program in Indonesia

Abstract

Social reforestation programs plant trees on degraded, uncultivated land in low-income regions to allow the local population to generate income from selling wood products and—in case of agroforestry systems—to grow food. For fundraising it is of interest to demonstrate not only positive social impacts but also environmental ones. Proving negative greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions would allow the programs to enter the market for carbon offsetting projects and liberate further funding. In a case study, a social reforestation program in Kalimantan, Indonesia, is analyzed. GHG emissions (according to ISO 14067, PAS 2050 and EU ILCD Handbook for LCA) of the main product, laminated veneer lumber plywood, are determined as 622 and 21 kg CO2-e/m3 for short-term and long-term (above 100 years) plywood use, respectively. Switching to lignin-based resins and renewable electricity could reduce emissions down to − 363 kg CO2-e/m3 for long-term use. The analyzed agroforestry system produces almost carbon–neutral plywood today and could be climate positive in the mid-term.

Estimated changes in carbon stock due to changes in land use around Yogyakarta International Airport

“…The rate of deforestation that occurs is very massive in various countries, especially in Indonesia, becoming one of the main problems in the environmental sector (Gençay and Durkaya, 2023;Müller et al, 2023;Range-Pinagé et al, 2023). The existence of forests/mangroves/peatlands that play a role in absorbing CO2 and storing carbon (above the surface in the form of vegetation cover, soil carbon in the form of organic materials, underground biomass/plant roots, and dead organic carbon) continues to degrade.…”

“…This research attempted to provide a solution to the problem above, namely by monitoring land use changes using high-resolution satellite imagery to obtain more accurate carbon stock calculation results Monitoring changes in carbon stocks caused by infrastructure development and economic activities is important as a basis for formulating land management policies (Wu and Wang, 2023). It is hoped that this analysis will be able to become a basis for formulating decarbonization efforts as a form of environmental sustainability responsibility (Müller et al, 2023), as well as a basis for preparing spatial planning so that the availability of green open space/urban forests in urban areas and vegetation planting can be optimized (Lerbinger et al al., 2023). This monitoring is an important part of efforts to realize the 13 th Sustainable Development Goal, namely controlling climate change, the impact of which is increasingly triggering a global socio-economic crisis.…”