Renewable Technologies in Sustainable Forest Management

Based on the Regional Regulation of East Kalimantan Province No. 1 of 2016 regarding the Spatial Planning of East Kalimantan Province for 2016-2036, East Kalimantan Province has 1,844,969 hectares of protected forest and 6,055,793 hectares of production forest. In addition, there are also nature reserves, nature conservation, cultural heritage and science areas covering an area of ​​591,690 hectares, of which 64,814.98 hectares are Grand Forest Parks managed by the provincial government.

Read: Abundant Harvest, Preserved Mangroves

The vastness of production forests in East Kalimantan is an important part of the homework on sustainable forest management. Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara (YKAN) believes that by implementing the principles of sustainable forest management, holders of Forest Utilization Business Permits (PBPH) can contribute not only to reducing greenhouse emissions but also to protecting high conservation value areas and biodiversity in their areas.

Partnering with various parties, including local governments, universities, and the private sector, YKAN encourages the implementation of Reduced Impact Logging for Climate Change Mitigation (RIL-C) developed by YKAN. The main key to the RIL-C practice is avoiding felling hollow trees, regulating the direction of tree fall, reducing damage to large trees due to skidding, and minimizing the area of ​​haul roads to reduce forest damage, therefore reducing carbon emissions.

In this context, YKAN introduced the use of a new, more environmentally friendly technology called Logfisher. By using Logfisher, it is expected to reduce emissions during harvesting. This is because this tool uses a fairly long cable, around 200-250 meters to pull the felled trees from their place to the temporary pool location. This tool is recommended to replace the method of collecting felled trees using tractors, which causes considerable damage to the surrounding environment (other trees, land, and others).

This breakthrough is an innovative solution that can be used by PBPH holders in East Kalimantan and other regions in managing their production forest areas sustainably.