Indonesian National Carbon Accounting System (INCAS) Program

FACTSHEET

Indonesian National Carbon Accounting System (INCAS) Program In a changing climate, countries are seeking to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions they release into the atmosphere. Having the ability to measure emissions allows countries to better manage their emissions and respond to climate change. Overall, deforestation contributes to around 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and for Indonesia, a country with high forest cover and high rates of deforestation, forests will play an important role in it reaching its emission reduction targets.

The INCAS Program is developing a pilot forest carbon accounting system designed to support the future MRV Institution and comply with international good practice guidance. This system is being developed with sufficient flexibility to be able to meet Indonesia’s future emissions measurement and reporting requirements once they are further refined.

These requirements may include: • Supporting participation in future carbon markets in schemes such as reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+) • Tracking progress towards emissions reductions targets and possible international treaties • Supporting informed decision making and the appropriate management of greenhouse gas emissions from Indonesia’s forests • Forming a basis for international climate change and REDD+ negotiations • Generating reference emissions level (REL) scenarios • Informing domestic policy development; and • Sustainable land use planning.

Indonesia, as a leading REDD+ country, is planning to establish a Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) Institution to provide credibility to its emissions reductions and the basis for determining remuneration under a REDD+ payment mechanism. This institution will require the capacity to comprehensively monitor emissions and carbon uptake from Indonesia’s forests.

Under the Indonesian National Carbon Accounting System (INCAS) Program, the Indonesia-Australia Forest Carbon Partnership (IAFCP) is providing funding and technical support to build Indonesia’s capacity to develop and operate a sovereign national level forest carbon accounting system.

Trees measurement.

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INCAS pilot system framework A. Biomass Classification

B. Annual Land Cover Change

Classification of forests into groups (biomass classes) with common biomass characteristics (in undisturbed condition)

Annual time-series defining areas of: • Deforestation (permanent loss of forest cover) • Degradation (forest clearance and regeneration or partial removal)

C. Forest Disturbance Class Mapping

E. Indonesian Carbon Accounting and Reporting Model (ICARM)

National map of forest disturbance classes at known date: • Minimal disturbance • Moderate disturbance • Heavy disturbance

D. C-mass Estimation C-mass estimates for each biomass class (stock, growth/loss rate): • Above ground biomass • Debris • Soil • Below ground biomass • Litter

Specifically, the INCAS Program is helping to quantify annual land-cover change across Indonesia; estimate the changes in biomass in these areas; and analyse these through carbon models to estimate emissions and carbon uptake from forests in Indonesia.

reporting requirements and is consistent with Indonesia’s unique biophysical environment.

The INCAS Program incorporates the sharing of lessons learnt from the development of Australia’s national level carbon accounting system for the land sector.

These lessons are intended to guide the Government of Indonesia during the development of its sovereign system, which meets Indonesia’s specific emissions

Early implementation of the pilot system has commenced over Kalimantan, and this will be expanded across the rest of Indonesia. The pilot program is providing onthe-job training to Indonesian officials and experts to build their capacity to develop and operate Indonesia’s future system.

Progress to date under the INCAS Program:

Carbon accounting and modelling workshop held in Canberra at the Australian Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE), during October 2012.

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Indonesian National Carbon Accounting System (INCAS) Program

Land-cover change analysis The INCAS Program is working in close partnership with the Indonesian National Space Agency, LAPAN, to build its capacity to monitor land cover change from satellite imagery. This includes providing on-the-job training in analysing satellite imagery to detect the occurrence, location and size of land cover change events across the Indonesian archipelago.

FOREST COVER LOSS AND GAIN - KALIMANTAN, 2000-2009 LEGEND:

Forest from 2000 to 2009

Replanting Clearing

Multiple Change

Lake

Non Forest

Country Border

Province Border

LAPAN is using high-resolution satellite imagery, provided through the INCAS Program, to support this analysis and subsequently produce annual land cover change maps of all of Indonesia which will form a key input to the pilot system. The INCAS Program has also supported the installation of equipment at LAPAN to store and process these large quantities of satellite data.

LAPAN, with the support of the INCAS Program and the Ministry of Forestry, has now generated annual land cover change maps for Kalimantan and Sumatra Islands from 2000 to 2009. Analysis of Papua and Sulawesi Islands is well advanced, with the rest of Indonesia scheduled for completion by mid-2013.

These maps, integrated with Ministry of Forestry data, will form a crucial input to the INCAS pilot system, as well as other emissions reductions and sustainable land use planning efforts in Indonesia.

FOREST COVER LOSS AND GAIN - SUMATRA, 2000-2009

LEGEND:

Forest from 2000 to 2009

Replanting Clearing

Multiple Change

Lake

Non Forest

Province Border

Indonesian National Carbon Accounting System (INCAS) Program

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Biomass measurement

Carbon modelling and measuring emissions

The INCAS Program is working in close partnership with the Indonesian Forestry Research and Development Agency (FORDA), to classify biomass content in Indonesia’s forests. This includes support for the generation of a biomass classification map for forests in Kalimantan to be later expanded across the whole of Indonesia.

This process will support the estimation of greenhouse gas emissions in areas where land cover change has been detected.

Training has been provided to officials and experts in the use of forest carbon models. These models integrate the remote sensing data of land cover change with the onground estimates of biomass and the knowledge of forest management events to produce estimates of emissions and carbon uptake from forests.

The INCAS Program has supported FORDA to publish a monograph of equations to estimate forest biomass content from easily measured forest characteristics such as tree height and diameter.

Forest cover in Indonesia.

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Indonesian National Carbon Accounting System (INCAS) Program