Our Focus

The project aims to implement and scale-up social and environmental safeguards at the project site by strengthening local economic development. In order to do so, a study was undertaken to analyze the local village economy and assess the potential of seven staple agricultural commodities that were found to be fundamental to local livelihoods in the area.

Starling Resources conducted a business process assessment across 17 villages to identify the economic potential for the project area based on existing commodity production. The analysis detailed the productivity, potential financial performance, and cultivation/processing methods of selected commodities and identified potential interventions to increase productivity and value of commodity production. Our team assessed the financial feasibility, social adaptability and capacity, environmental sustainability, and market accessibility for each identified commodity and highlighted opportunities and challenges of each, based on quantitative and qualitative analysis.

An Excel-based cost-revenue model was developed and deployed to capture detailed information in a systematic and comprehensive manner. Both quantitative and qualitative data for each commodity were collected directly from local farmers.

The following commodities were assessed in depth:

• Rubber
• Jelutong
• Pineapple
• Rattan
• Banana
• Laos
• Coconut

2014 and 2016

• Marubeni Corporation (Client)
• PT. Rimba Makmur Utama (Client)
• Yayasan Puter Indonesia (Partner)

• Potensi Pengembangan Industri Gula Kelapa Dan Kopra Di Kabupaten Kotawaring Timur (2016)
• Business Process Assessment for Smallholder Forest-Based Commodities in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia (2014)

As Indonesia’s foremost private sector representative, KADIN (Indonesia Chamber of Commerce) sees a unique opportunity to provide leadership and guidance in both private sector engagement and governmental policy making that supports economically and environmentally sound low carbon land use development. This project aims to:

• Understand private sector perspectives, identify hurdles to investment in low carbon and sustainable land use
• Assess opportunities for KADIN to capitalize on its unique position to facilitate private sector investment in low carbon and sustainable land use
• Assist KADIN with the development of a strategy to facilitate low carbon land use options among key sectors (i.e., palm oil, pulp and paper, mining and finance) and inform related national policy development.

Starling Resources’ roles in the project include:

1) Knowledge Gathering and Dissemination

Starling Resources was engaged to raise awareness and provide basic guidance on the principles of REDD+ project implementation and investment with key KADIN members, particularly those in the agriculture, palm-oil and forestry sectors, by developing a REDD+ guidebook and a position statement supporting an enabling environment for REDD+ policies . Starling Resources’ team also conducted a series of dialogues and interviews with Kadin members from key sectors to inform, socialize and understand their positions on land-use, REDD+ and low emission development for Indonesia.

2) Feasibility Studies and Project Implementation

Once critical hurdles to investment in low carbon and sustainable land use were identified, Starling Resources began a process of assessing the feasibility and value of Kadin-led activities to address these hurdles. Through desk research, one-on-one interviews and focus group discussions, the Starling team mapped out potential KADIN interventions in critical areas

3) Program Design

As a result of our prior engagement and assessment work, Starling Resources supported the design and development of a social conflict resource unit to be housed within KADIN. This unit is now operation providing support and advisory to stakeholders engaged in addressing natural resource based social conflicts in Indonesia.

2013 - 2015

• Climate Land Use Alliance (Client)
• KADIN (Partner)

• Guide book
• Final Report

ASKUL is a leading Japanese office supply company. Launched in 2011, this project was implemented in conjunction with ASKUL’s “1 box for 2 trees” reforestation initiative with a goal of ensuring the sustainable supply of raw materials procured by the Indonesia-based company, Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a major supplier to Askul. This project focused on community-based reforestation activities on 20 hectares of peatland located inside the Giam Siak Kecil—Bukit Batu UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Bengkalis District, Riau province, Sumatra Indonesia.

The initiative involved multiple stakeholders including a local forest management group in Temiang Village, known as Kelompok Masyarakat Peduli Hutan (KMPH), other community members of Temiang Village, an Indonesia-based NGO, Sinar Mas Forestry, Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), and local universities. ASKUL sought a third party to: 1) evaluate the effectiveness, impacts and sustainability of the project; 2) provide practical options for project improvements and strategies; and 3) present overarching recommendations for future ASKUL conservation programs.

Starling Resources conducted a situational analysis of APP’s plantations, local villages, and the conservation project site to collect the basic typology of the project areas, conducted a series of focus group discussions (FGDs), and identified existing practices and potential areas of improvement. Based on key findings, Starling mapped and analyzed key barriers and opportunities facing the project against the pre-identified criteria, which aimed to assess the effectiveness and impacts of the project. Results of the evaluation analysis were used to provide ASKUL with practical recommendations and strategies for future project development.

2012 – 2013

• ASKUL (Client)
• Asia Pulp and Paper (Partner)
• Yayasan Puter Indonesia (Partner)

The project commissioned by the Indonesian Climate Change Center assessed existing peatland maps for pilot sites (Pelalawan and Katingan Districts) and targeted the development of new accurate peatland maps based on robust scientific methodologies and peatland definitions. Referencing the newly developed peatland maps, the project provided recommendations for sustainable peatland management by considering key climate and land use factors. These factors included potential impacts of climate change, socio-economic contexts, time-series land use and land cover change (LULCC) analysis, and GHG emissions estimation from water table fluctuations and LULCC. This project was carried out with the following four objectives:

• Assess peatland mapping methodologies;
• Develop new accurate peatland maps for the study sites;
• Recommend a sustainable peatland management model by considering the balance between GHG emission reductions and socio-economic needs; and
• Build collaborative partnerships with national and international universities, NGOs, and communities to exchange knowledge and facilitate capacity building.

Starling Resources served as Project Manager for this assignment, and successfully engaged a network of partnerships at international, national and local levels, enhancing the level of collaboration with and among partner institutions. Working with experts from partner universities, Starling Resources team led field surveys for both peat sampling and social baseline surveys in order to develop empirical understanding of peatland distribution, local land use practices, livelihood patterns and potential climate change impacts on the socio-economy across the study sites.

2013

• US Forest Service (Client)
• Indonesia Climate Change Center (Partner)

ICCC. (2013) Peatland Definition and Peatland Mapping Methodology Assessment.

In Central Kalimantan Province, agriculture shapes much of the local economy. Slash-and-burn farming and conversion for agricultural lands is a significant driver of deforestation and peatland forest fires in the area. While population and economic pressures on forest resources are arguably increasing and aggravating the rate of deforestation, local livelihoods still need to be sustained. In order to balance social, economic and ecological objectives, this project aimed to develop a sustainable agroforestry and land use model through reduced impact farming, better crop selection and intensification, forest and land fire prevention and control, and improved land use practices. Recognizing the need to build the capacity of local farmers, the project developed practical guidebooks, training modules and standard operating procedures, and provided knowledge and on-the-ground training to promote improved and sustainable agroforestry and land use practices.

Through collaboration with peat scientists and community organizers, Starling Resources worked with agroforestry groups at the study site and introduced approaches and practical methods to improve soil management on agroforestry lands and a technique with the combined application of bio charcoal (biochar) and organic compost. In addition, Starling Resources developed a systematic approach to fire prevention and control for farmer groups and local fire brigades. We facilitated an on-site training led by expert soil scientists, peat experts, and community organizers, and developed practical guidebooks, training modules and standard operating procedures to disseminate to local farmer groups and fire brigades.

2012 – 2015

• Marubeni Corporation (Client)
• PT. Rimba Makmur Utama (Partner)
• Yayasan Puter Indonesia (Partner)
• Hokkaido University (Partner)
• University of Palangka Raya (Partner)
• Research and Development Center for Forest Conservation and Rehabilitation (Partner)
• Indonesian Institute of Sciences (Partner)

• Manual pembuatan Biorangpos untuk peningkatan sistem agroforestri (2013)
• Guidebook for peatland fire prevention and control (in English and Bahasa Indonesia) (2015)
• Peatland fire prevention and control training module (in English and Bahasa Indonesia) (2015)

TNC engaged Starling to assess the feasibility of using Indonesia’s Ecosystem Restoration Concession (ERC) model to improve financial viability of sustainable resource management and conservation initiatives at degraded forest settings in East Kalimantan.

Key components of this project included:

• ERC Legal, Regulatory, and Policy Update, including analysis of legal policy context, ERC licensing process, challenges to the ERC business model, and an analysis of the bundled approach to ERC development;
• Rapid Landscape Analysis of East Kalimantan Province, with GIS mapping of landscapes, spatial distribution and ecological implications of current and planned land use, potential bundled landscapes, and analyses of ecosystem types, high conservation value forest, and oil palm plantation concessions currently in operation;
• Business Opportunity Assessments for ERCs in East Kalimantan, covering economic performance, projected investment costs, and potential environmental and social impacts for small-scale rubber, small-scale rattan, biofuels, payments for ecosystem services (PES), Ecotourism plus landscape and/or wildlife protection, and watershed protection;

2017

• TNC

• ERC Legal, Regulatory, and Policy Update

Reports and Publications

• ICCC. (2013) Peatland Definition and Peatland Mapping Methodology Assessment.
• Manual pembuatan Biorangpos untuk peningkatan sistem agroforestri (2013)
• Guidebook for peatland fire prevention and control (in English and Bahasa Indonesia) (2015)
• Peatland fire prevention and control training module (in English and Bahasa Indonesia) (2015)
• Potensi Pengembangan Industri Gula Kelapa Dan Kopra Di Kabupaten Kotawaring Timur (2016)
• Business Process Assessment for Smallholder Forest-Based Commodities in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia (2014)

• Katingan Conservation and Restoration Project: (2015) VCS+CCB Project Description Document (PDD)
• Guidebook for Estimating Carbon Emissions from Tropical Peatlands in Indonesia (2015)