Problem Analysis
Combined climate change factors, sea-level rise, land-use change, and deforestation created impacts on the fragility of coastal ecosystem, flora/fauna, and human life. This condition affected serious problems on: (1) frequent floods and coastal erosion; (2) loss of natural resources supporting subsistence for local economy; (3) marginalization and displacement of coastal population, food insecurity and loss job opportunities; (4) stress over water resources (saline water intrusion into freshwater aquifers); (5) unequal redistribution of fishermen income transforming individual community lands into large scale intensive aquaculture companies; and (6) totally village lost and community settlement sink.
Project Sites
Yagasu has conducting community base mangrove restoration and conservation since 2005. We transformed our mangrove restoration into blue carbon projects since 2009. The blue carbon projects are currently implemented in 13 provinces of Indonesia: Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Bengkulu, Lampung, South Sumatra, Jambi, West Java/Banten, Central Java, East Java and Central Sulawesi, South Sulawesi and South-east Sulawesi, supported by grant donors and carbon investors.
The size of each blue carbon project is 5,000 ha, and it can be extended into 10,000 ha. The project sites are implemented on community lands (non-state Indonesian forests). Each phase of 5,000 ha planting action will be implemented in 5 years, then followed up by 15 – 35 years carbon growth monitoring.
Project Objective
The project objective is to restore and conserve coastal ecosystem for carbon sequestration, water and soil conservation, natural disaster prevention and green livelihoods development. Reducing CO2 emissions by planting and conserving coastal species in the degraded areas would be much more effective investment, not just for maintaining natural balance but also has positive impacts for the economic development of local communities. We will also give attention to the seagrass and coral reef conservation, even though it is still done in a small scale. The project will build a Coastal Carbon Corridor that connect the carbon of true mangroves, associated mangroves, seagrass, and coral reef, and they perform an integrated blue carbon ecosystem
Project Activities
The objective will be achieved through accomplishment of outcomes and deliverable activities that include: (1) Land- and social assessment of planting sites; (2) Public engagement; (3) Research, education and awareness program; (4) Capacity building for local communities; (5) Nursery works and planting trees, and MRV; (6) Ecosystem conservation; (7) Social-economic supports; and (8) Project management and monitoring.
The composition of main project activities:
- Planting true mangroves (Rhizopora spp, Avicennia spp, Bruguiera spp, Sonneratia spp, in degraded muddy areas, 80 – 85% of project activities.
- Planting associated mangrove species (Hibiscus tiliascius, Terminalia spp, Ficus virens, Casuarina spp, Cerbera manghas, Muntingia calabura etc at degraded sandy areas, 7 – 12% of project activities.
- Conserving existing mangrove vegetation at the surrounding planting sites, 6 – 7% of project activities
- Conserving seagrass and coral reef, 1 – 2% project activities.
Planting trees
There are 2 (two) Steps of Planting Actions:
Step 1 : Planting true mangroves based on the agreed density (2,500 seedlings or 5,000 propagules per ha) in degraded muddy areas (pond-, riverbank- and coastline sub-ecosystem). in certain plot sites where the water current is in medium scale or no water barrier, the density can be increased into 10.000 propagules per ha, or the seedlings planted in grouping system. planting true mangroves can be done at any time, but planting in coastline should avoid the high wave season (november to january). the potential mortality of true mangroves after 4 – 12 months of planting is around 10 – 70% depending on planting season and site characteristic.
The associate mangrove species will be planted in the degraded sandy areas with the distance of 5 x 5 m (625 seedlings per ha) or 6 x 6 m (275 seedlings per ha). planting these species should be done during the rainy season (september to march) and never done during dry season. the potential mortality of associated mangroves after 6 – 12 months of planting is around 5 – 15% depending on site characteristic.
Due to faster growth compared to true mangrove species, the associated mangrove species can provide higher co2 removal to the project. it is recommended to plant bayhops (ipomoea pes-caprae) at open space of sandy areas before planting associate mangrove species. this species has a value to protect the soil from sun-heat and humidity.
Step 2 : Replanting the dead trees whenever found mortality in each plot. the replanting actions will be conducted regularly (usually after 4 months of planting) to maintain a survival rate of 80 – 90%. the mangrove maintenance is essential to meet a stable growth up to 4 years. species enrichment with another species who have high wood density will be conducted in step 2 to perform heterogenous mangrove forest.
The new plots will be set up to replace the problem plot if mortality is 80 – 90% or there is a case of mortality 100% (plot gone) because of land-use change into intensive pond or other purposes. yagasu will provide 5% (250 ha) additional planting plots to anticipate if there are any problem plots due to land conversion into other purposes or the plot can’t be replanted anymore. therefore at the time of validation and 1st verification, the total planting plots can be consistently meet the target of 5,000 ha.
Plot Measurement
After community groups plant seedlings or propagules in a plot, the field team will check the number of seedlings planted (density) and plant tidiness (2 x 2 m or 2 x 1 m or 1 x 1 m). Planting area (ha) is polygonised using the GPS and drone mapping. Photos are taken by camera and drone where each plot has a specific plot code as planting evidence. To monitor the tree growth, the field team uses an Android Application (Management Information System – MIS). The social data and tree data can be accessed on time and by online. All collected data will be transferred to the main server in Yagasu’ office
Community Patroling Unit
To protect planted mangroves and existing vegetation cover, Yagasu mobilizes local community groups in the villages to conduct routine patrolling actions. The objectives are to protect, safeguard, prevent and limit the damage of mangrove vegetation cover.
Before going to the field, the patrolling unit is trained in SOP of patrolling, law, and regulation, reporting system. The patrolling team will be accompanied by Forest Ranger and Local Police. The prohibition signboard is put in several strategic locations to warn people not to cut the trees. If there is any specific case, the patrolling team will give verbal warning to the people who break the law and explain the consequences if they violate the law. For the case that seriously breaking the law, the team will report to the Local Police Station to implement law enforcement.
Village Policy Initiative
Yagasu will facilitate Village Government to set-up Village Spatial Plan (VSP), Mangrove Protection Area (MPA) and Village Regulation (VR) The set of village policy is as a legal tool for long-term carbon mangroves. The process of designing VSP and MPA will involve community in participatory mapping. The documents will be approved by the Village Leader and community representatives, and then endorsed by the District Government.
An example of VSP
An example of MPA
Mangrove- and Marine Conservation
Yagasu in collaboration with Global Mangrove Trust (GMT), Oxford University and KUMI – Singapore conducted ground-check data collection using the space-based machine learning Kumi Analytics Carbon Sequestration Assessment Tool (KACSAT). The research area was 2,305 hectares using KACSAT’s 1-metre scale, located between coordinates 04°04’30” – 04°16’30″N and 98°06’30” – 98°14’30″E in the North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. This join project is called OxCarbon Standard under the Agreement 001-OxC. The 001-OxC baseline procedure was commenced in June 2021 with the signing of MOUs with village and forest department representatives in Medan to kickstart forest research campaigns.
The 001-OxC project aims to conserve and regenerate coastal ecosystems such as mangrove forests and marine coastal areas. The project actively supports nature-based solutions to the climate crisis and fortifies sustainable long-term livelihoods for coastal communities.
Supported by MAREX, Yagasu and GMT organises mangrove conservation project using the space-based machine learning Kumi Analytics Carbon Sequestration Assessment Tool (KACSAT). We plan to scale up similar conservation and restoration efforts across 25,000 ha of coastal mangroves over the next 3-5 years, deploying 30-year conservation agreements with local communities. During the project lifetime, the proponents aim to generate a total quantum of avoided emissions and new carbon sequestration equivalent to 2,594,027 tCO2e to be contributed towards the Indonesian NDC (National Designated Contribution). This KACSAT carbon assessment will be replicated in the other Yagasu’s project sites.
Supported by SEE (Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology) Foundation from China through BPAF (Blue Partnership Action Program), Yagasu conducts an integrated coastal and marine conservation project in East Java – Indonesia. Yagasu mobilizes local community group to conduct corall reef transpalantion, turtle breeding program and sea biota conservation, as part of Yagasu’s blue carbon program. The carbon accumulation of seagrass meadows along the coastal sites is also under exploration. The project is not only focusing on technical works, but we also support the Village Government to set-up VSP (Village Spatial Plan), EPA (Ecosystem Protected Area) and Village Regulation (VR).
Once the project is started, it will be registered to National Registration System (Sistem Registrasi Nasional – SRN) and then listed into VERRA or other certifications (Plan Vivo, Gold Standard, etc). The international registration is based on the investor preference. Most of Yagasu’s projects are currently using VERRA. A good thing, now VERA uses New Methodology that allow us using our-own allometry for carbon estimation and verification. It means we can get more carbon based on the real data collected from the field compared to the conservative- or default values. The project will be registered to the carbon credit- and CCB certification. Establishment of certified carbon credits combined with green livelihood program in the project areas will contribute to the global carbon emission reduction, biodiversity conservation and SDG achievement. Based on the Non-permanence Risk Assessment of this project, our carbon accounting can be reduced to 10 – 15% as buffer credits deposited in the AFOLU pooled buffer account; or 20 – 25% if the carbon estimated as conservative or default values
