Land Use Change, Regional Spatial Plan And Its Implication For Implementation Of Redd+ Initiative At Katingan District, Central Kalimantan Province.

Abstract

The phenomenon of climate change that occurs today mostly caused by CO2 emissions from industrial activities and forest loss. One of climate change mitigation is through REDD+ approach (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus). According to CIFOR (2010), the idea of REDD+ is different from the previous forest conservation activities as directly linked with financial incentives for conservation aimed at storing carbon in forests. Katingan is one of the districts in the province of Central Kalimantan is currently designated as a REDD+ pilot project provinces. REDD+ initiatives in Katingan should go hand in hand with the Regional Spatial Plan (RTRW) which is a fundamental policy of regional development at district level, while facing the problems include forest area decreased and land area of agricultural production increased (rice, rubber and palm oil), as well as unfinished of RTRW. This study aims: (1) to analyze the pattern of changes in the land use of forest to other land uses in Katingan, (2) to analyze inconsistencies with existing land use with space allocation on RTRW and Forest Area, (3) to analyze the contents of spatial plan policies that support the initiative REDD+, (4) to analyze the opinion of stakeholders on the emergence of REDD+ initiatives; (5) to formulate improvement direction of Katingan’s RTRW. Analysis of the data used are: analysis of land use changes, land use inconsistency analysis, content analysis, analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and descriptive analysis, respectively, analysis of land use changes are used to determine the trend of the development of land use in particular Katingan forest land use. Inconsistency analysis of land use change is made to see the consistency of land use in 2012 with RTRW and forests status. Two other analysis, content analysis and AHP, are used to look at basic element and process of REDD+ in district development plan policy documents and stakeholder preferences for sustainability of REDD+ initiatives. The last analysis is descriptive analysis, is used to analyze the results of the research objectives 1 – 4 as Katingan improvement direction of Katingan’s RTRW for the sustainability of REDD+ initiatives in Katingan. The study result shows a forest land use is dominant in Katingan, amounting to 60.47% (1,242,554 ha). Forest land use change patterns that generally occur were from forest to shrub/open land and finally turned into land use of annual crops/plantation, food dryland agriculture and settlement. Analysis of land use inconsistencies indicate a relatively small level of inconsistency, only 3,2 % in the RTRW and 2% in the forest status. The results of the content analysis showed the basic element and process REDD+ contained within the local planning documents. In RTRW documents, sequentially the biggest basic element and process REDD+ are co-benefit, emission reduction and equity, while in the document of Long Term Regional Development Plan (RPJPD), sequentially the biggest basic element and process REDD+ are co-benefit, equity and emission reduction. The preferences of stakeholders (local government, central government, NGOs, companies and communities) showed interest in the REDD+ initiative in the hope of direct benefit, in addition to consideration of indirect benefits and possible worries of potential conflicts that will arise. Based on the overall study results, it is possible REDD+ initiatives implemented in Katingan with some improvements in Katingan District spatial plan. Directives consideration improvements of RTRW are the allocation of space for REDD+ initiatives should be planned on a protected area and litle piece of productive area (Production Forests area and Limited Production Forests area).