Heart of Borneo (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam)

The Heart of Borneo is an area of mountainous forests in the centre of the world's third largest island. It is an area of exceptional biological diversity. More than two decades of unsustainable logging, fires, plantation development, and mining has led to a dramatic decline and degradation of forest and freshwater ecosystems in the Heart of Borneo.

The Heart of Borneo Initiative was established by the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam with the objective to protect the environment and develop the area in a sustainable way. An important issue is that the value of environmental services is often not accounted for in government and private sector decision-making. Supported by WWF, a group of scientists, economists and policy specialists conducted a natural capital assessment for the Heart of Borneo. The goals of the assessment were to improve understanding of the value of ecosystems to Borneo's economy and society, and to improve the sustainability of decision making. The models provided by InVEST, along with other GIS and economic analyses, were used to understand the flow of environmental services to local, regional and global beneficiaries.

Following a multi-stakeholder workshop conducted by the Natural Capital Project and WWF in Jakarta, Indonesia, in December 2010, the InVEST analysis was conducted mainly by a local Indonesian team, with support from the Natural Capital Project, Hatfield Consultants, and the European Space Agency (www.eomd.esa.int).

Business as Usual or a Green Economy?

Using alternative future scenarios in InVEST enabled comparison of the potential changes in environmental services:

• Business as Usual scenario: characterized by a focus on short-term gains (e.g., < 10 years), externalization of impacts and their costs, and little or no recognition of the economic value of natural capital; and
• Green Economy scenario: characterized by longer-term output (e.g., > 10 years), and internalization of impacts and costs, which avoids the degradation of natural capital, thereby generating potential for a long-term flow of environmental services.

Scenarios using IDRISI Land Change Modeler

IDRISI Land Change Modeler (LCM) - an integrated software application for land change analysis and prediction, developed by Clark Labs - was used to predict land-cover based on past change observed between 2000, 2005 and 2009. Predictive modeling of future scenarios based on historical data was deemed to be appropriate for Kalimantan because significant land-cover change is occurring that does not adhere to the zones designated in government spatial plans. However, because of the complexity of land cover change in Kalimantan, IDRISI LCM was limited to modelling change in natural forest extent. Additional drivers included existing roads, fire distribution, slope, elevation, and settlement. Selected land use information was introduced, including spatial data on plans for mining, palm oil, and forestry.

InVEST models

The following InVEST models were used in the Heart of Borneo:

• Water yield - the amount of water derived from the Heart of Borneo, which supports downstream plantations, industry and cities;
• Water purification (nutrients) - nutrient loads in rivers and the influence of land cover and land use management, especially proposed expansion of oil palm;
• Sediment retention - sediment load and potential costs for maintaining rivers that are important for regional transport;
• Carbon sequestration - the amount of carbon stored based on land cover and land use; and
• Habitat quality & rarity - so that tradeoffs between biodiversity and environmental services can be assessed.

Importance of satellite imagery

An assessment of natural capital for an area as large and diverse as Borneo requires a range of environmental, social and economic data. Information about land cover and land use is particularly important; satellite earth observation provides the most cost effective, timely and accurate source.

In the Heart of Borneo assessment, ESA's GlobCover (ionia1.esrin.esa.int/) from 2005 and 2009 provided a consistent dataset across the national boundaries of the three countries. A carbon stock map developed by SARVISION (www.sarvision.nl) using ALOS PALSAR data was also analysed in relation to the global climate regulation benefits that the Heart of Borneo provides.

Updates from the Field

Heart of Borneo Green Economy Workshop: Jakarta December 1-3, 2010

WWF-Indonesia hosted a workshop with government agencies (Indonesia's Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Ministries of Environment, Forestry and Public Works), development partners (UK Department for International Development, Food and Agriculture Organisation, United Nations Development Program and UN-REDD), international consulting firms PricewaterhouseCoopers, Hatfield Consultants and Witteveen+Bos, representatives from the University of Indonesia and staff from WWF-US, Malaysia and Indonesia. The workshop introduced the Heart of Borneo green growth assessment which aims to use InVEST and other software and modelling tools to strengthen policy, governance, business and investment decisions as part of the emerging green economy in the Heart of Borneo. The assessment also aims to help national and local stakeholders to better understand the value of forests. It will help in advocating for improved conservation, good business practices and mobilize fiscal and economic instruments which encourage investment in natural capital. The Natural Capital Project provided training in scenario development and InVEST, identified as a key tool to support the assessment.

European Space Agency InVESTs in the Heart of Borneo, March 2011

As part of the Heart of Borneo Initiative's work, WWF is using an innovative GIS based tool called Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Trade-offs (InVEST). Supported by the European Space Agency (ESA), which has recently granted US$70,000 towards data acquisition and GIS resources, InVEST provides maps showing the quantity and location of environmental services (such as forest or peat carbon, water yields and non-timber forest products) within the landscape. European Space Agency InVESTs in the Heart of Borneo (Page 9)

Biodiversity Conservation in Multiple-Use Forest Landscapes in Sabah, Malaysia: Sabah Forestry Department, Sandakan, Malaysia, July 26-28, 2011

WWF and Hatfield Consultants presented the ongoing natural capital assessment at a multi-stakeholder workshop related to the design of a Global Environment Facility project for biodiversity conservation in multiple-use forest landscapes. The team designing the project was interested to learn about the capabilities of InVEST. A practical introduction to InVEST was provided to staff from WWF Malaysia and Sabah Forestry Department.

A Green Economy Corridor in Kalimantan: Towards green growth based on innovative management of forest lands and natural resources: Jakarta, Indonesia, August 12-13, 2011

WWF presented the ongoing natural capital assessment at a workshop related to the design of a Green Economic corridor in Kalimantan. The workshop was hosted by Unit Kerja Presiden bidang Pengawasan dan Pengendalian Pembangunan (UKP-PPP; http://ukp.go.id/) - the president of Indonesia's unit for supervision and control of development. A key partner for the event was the United Nations Environment Programme, including Pavan Sukhdev, study leader for The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Study (TEEB; www.teebweb.org/). Threshold 21 (T21), a dynamic simulation tool designed to support comprehensive, integrated long-term national development planning was also introduced (http://www.millennium-institute.org/integrated_planning/tools/T21/index.html). The aim was to determine how outputs from InVEST may support T21 comparative analysis of different policy options, and help to identify policies that will support sustainable management.

Business solutions to drive a green economy in the Heart of Borneo: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, 16 November, 2011

wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?uNewsID=202404

Environmental services and the value of natural capital were key topics at one of the largest green economy conferences ever held in the region. WWF launched the Malaysian chapter of its new initiative for business, called the Heart of Borneo Green Business Network.

Publications

• Heart of Borneo Newsletter: the Heart of Borneo: what is it worth? (Page 8)
• Preliminary results from HOB
• Detailed results are expected in a forthcoming HoB-TEEB Report and website

Links

• WWF Indonesia (www.wwf.or.id/en/)
• WWF Malaysia (www.wwf.org.my/)
• WWF Germany (www.wwf.de/)
• European Space Agency (ESRIN) (www.eomd.esa.int/)
• Hatfield Consultants (www.hatfieldgroup.com/)
• Witteveen+Bos (www.witteveenbos.com/)
• NEO BV (www.neo.nl/)

People

Hatfield Consultants, a Canadian environmental and geomatics consulting company with a 20 year presence in Indonesia coordinated the project. Hatfield worked closely with WWF, scientists from the Natural Capital Project, Witteveen+Bos and NEO BV.

Meet the Team

Adam Tomasek is WWF's Leader of the Heart of Borneo Network Initiative. Based in Jakarta, Indonesia he is leading a diverse team to deliver local-to-global conservation and sustainable development strategies in cooperation with the governments of Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. Adam is leading the overall green economy engagement with the three Heart of Borneo Governments as they prepare for the UNCSD Rio+20 Summit.

Anna van Paddenburg is the Heart of Borneo Sustainable Finance and Policy Strategy Leader at WWF, based in Jakarta, Indonesia. She leads the Green Growth Assessment for the Heart of Borneo aimed to mobilize economic incentives that can support the transition towards an economy which invests in Natural Capital. Part of this includes leading the Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services (InVEST) in the Heart of Borneo - a GIS based economic valuation project with WWF Indonesia and WWF Malaysia to identify, locate and value Heart of Borneo's environmental services.

Nirmal Bhagabati
Senior Program Officer (Environmental Services), World Wildlife Fund (WWF-US) Conservation Science Program

Bhagabati leads WWF's efforts to apply InVEST in priority field sites. He developed an interest in conservation growing up in the biodiversity-rich region of northeast India near the Eastern Himalayas. After completing undergraduate work in India in biology and computer science, Bhagabati pursued doctoral research at the State University of New York, studying geographic variation in birds (Mexican Jays) in the southwestern US and northern Mexico. Subsequently, he studied the genetics of an avian hybrid zone at the Smithsonian Institution, and then worked as a bioinformatics analyst at The Institute for Genomic Research, where he developed software, analyzed data, and trained biologists in data analysis. Bhagabati also has a degree in Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology from the University of Maryland. He has worked with several environmental organizations, including the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Conservation International, the National Wildlife Federation and World Wildlife Fund, on diverse projects including GIS-based analyses of human dimensions of conservation, biofuels, tropical deforestation and climate change policy, and landscape-level conservation planning.

Barano Siswa Sulistyawan
National Conservation Spatial Plan coordinator of WWF Indonesia

Barano has been working with WWF Indonesia since 1996. He started as a research coordinator of Wasur National Park Project at WWF Indonesia Program in district Merauke of Papua province of Indonesia. He has a degree in Biology from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. In 1999, he worked on freshwater issues on the lakes and rivers of Papua; a priority place for WWF-Indonesia. At same time, he became involved in the ecoregional planning approach for large landscape conservation programme. In 2002, Barano returned to the same university to continue with a Masters Degree in Remote Sensing; where TM & ETM land satellite images were used to measure and monitor water hyacinth populations in the Maro river. Upon graduation, he continued to utilize the ecoregional planning approach at the TransFly ecoregion in Papua, by including the mapping of community land values, ecological and social values into the spatial plan.

In 2008, Barano was promoted to lead the Conservation Spatial Plan programme which led to him collaborating with the Natural Capital teams and applying the InVEST tool for Indonesia, starting in Sumatra. He has since completed the Stanford University training on InVEST and is looking to expand the use of InVEST to the Heart of Borneo and the southern part of Papua.

Oki Hadian
GIS Analyst - World Wild Fund Indonesia

Oki is GIS Analyst particularly for Sumatera. He graduated from Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia, where he obtained his Bachelors Degree for Cartography and Remote Sensing majoring Geographic Information System.

Emily McKenzie
Lead - Science-Policy Interface

McKenzie is developing tools to enable environmental services information to be effectively incorporated into decisions, policies, and finance systems. She has used environmental economics to influence policy in the Pacific, Caribbean, and Europe, including black pearl farming in the Cook Islands, aggregates extraction in the Marshall Islands, and forest biodiversity in Montserrat. She has built environmental economics programs and projects - leading research, developing toolkits, training staff, and providing policy advice. She previously worked as environmental economics advisor to the UK government, based at the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. In 2003-2005, she was awarded an Overseas Development Institute Fellowship, based at the Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission in Fiji. McKenzie received a Masters Degree in International Policy Studies from Stanford University, and a Bachelors Degree in Economics from Cambridge University.

Ginny Ng
Senior Program Officer for the Borneo & Sumatra Program in WWF-US

As the Senior Program Officer for the Borneo & Sumatra Program in WWF-US, Ginny leads the cross-cutting teams by building, expanding and maintaining relationships and communications with staff from the Markets, Policy, Global Support, Strategy and Science and Resource programs within WWF-US and the WWF network. She has also been providing technical support to the offices in Indonesia and Malaysia and is part of the team working on the recently signed US-Indonesia second Debt for Nature Swap agreement specifically for the Heart of Borneo. She is also the lead in maintaining relationships with US-based partners and stakeholders, including US Government agencies, other conservation NGOs, universities, foundations, Indonesian and Malaysian diplomatic missions.

Prior to this position, Ginny worked with the United Nations Development Program in Malaysia, and was involved in the development of the Country Programme Outline (2008-2012) and managed multi-lateral projects funded by the Global Environment Facility. She had also worked with WWF-Malaysia, and during her time there, she developed the Malaysian chapter of the Global Forest and Trade Network. She was also instrumental in leading the implementation of WWF Forest Strategy for Malaysia which addresses forest conservation issues in Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah.

Nasser Olwero
GIS Manager, World Wildlife Fund (WWF-US) Conservation Science Program

Olwero oversees WWF US Geographic Information Systems (GIS) program including managing the GIS lab and providing GIS and RS support to the Conservation Science Program. He graduated from Moi University in Kenya (undergraduate and postgraduate) with an M.Phil. degree in Environmental Science majoring in Environmental Information Systems.

Amy Rosenthal
Science-Policy Interface Specialist

Rosenthal is working with the team and partner sites to create science-policy interface tools that integrate environmental services into decisions about land management and development. Previously, she helped the Amazon Conservation Association establish an environmental services program, designed major initiatives for conservation of the Western Amazon, and developed a series of tools and methodologies for avoided deforestation carbon projects. She has run an environmental management training program with the Federal University of Acre in Brazil, evaluated a leadership institute for First Nations students with the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford, represented book authors as a literary agent, and studied carbon farming on Maori land in New Zealand. Rosenthal received an MA from Stanford University and a BA from Amherst College.