INCAS Standard Method – Forest Management Events and Regimes

The Standard method—forest management events and regimes describes the process used by the INCAS for defining the forest management events and regimes used as inputs for quantifying GHG emissions and removals from activities occurring on forestlands in Indonesia. This includes data collation, data analysis, quality control, and quality assurance.

There are many forest management events and regimes that can occur in Indonesia. The type and condition of forest and other land uses, as well as the types of events and management regimes, need to be defined to enable detailed modelling of GHG emissions and removals.

A forest management event represents a particular forest management action that occurs occasionally or regularly and is usually human-induced. A forest management regime describes the combination of practices or events applied to a particular land use and the timing of events that occur at a specific location.

Information collated from various government agencies and organisations in Indonesia were used for analysis. Spatial data were obtained from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture, and National Institute for Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN). In addition, some relevant information was collated from the regional forestry offices within the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. These included the agencies responsible for monitoring production forest utilisation, watershed management, strengthening forest area and natural resource conservation as well as national parks. Information was also collated by reference to representatives of forest concessionaires (i.e. logging companies).

Four main management events that lead to forest change were identified: land clearing, harvesting, burning, and planting events.

a) Land clearing is defined as the conversion of forest area of either primary or secondary forests into other land uses (e.g. settlement, mining, agriculture, etc.) and the conversion of natural forest into timber plantations. Land-clearing events remove all above-ground biomass from the site and move some live biomass to debris pools.

b) Harvesting events include clear-cutting, selective harvesting with a conventional technique, and selective harvesting with RIL. Harvesting events remove some or all of above-ground biomass from the site and move some live biomass to the debris pools.

c) Burning (forest fire) events are categorised into moderate and intense fires that release carbon (as CO2, CO, and CH4) and nitrogen (N2O and NOx) to the atmosphere, and move some carbon to the debris and soil pools.

d) Planting activity includes reforestation, rehabilitation, and enrichment planting programmes.

Full details of the Standard method—forest management events and regimes are available here.