Forest Carbon and EUDR in Banten

Updated 2026-11-02 · 3 min read · By the akar.earth specialist team

Forest carbon in Banten: Ujung Kulon and Halimun Salak forests, Baduy customary land, smallholder wood and cocoa, coastal mangroves and EUDR exposure.

Banten, at the western end of Java, has limited but important forest: Ujung Kulon National Park, part of Gunung Halimun Salak National Park, and the customary forest of the Baduy. Its forest carbon potential lies mainly in smallholder tree planting, agroforestry and mangrove restoration, and its EUDR exposure is mostly about wood, with smaller volumes of cocoa, coffee and rubber.

Forest and land cover profile

Banten has two contrasting halves. The north, around Serang, Cilegon and Tangerang, is densely populated and industrial, with steel, chemicals and ports. The south, in Pandeglang and Lebak, is hilly and rural, with mixed gardens, rice fields, rubber, smallholder woodlots and forest.

Ujung Kulon National Park on the south-west peninsula is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the last refuge of the Javan rhinoceros. It holds lowland rainforest, coastal forest and mangroves. Strict protection means it is not a site for carbon crediting, but it shapes land use around it.

Gunung Halimun Salak National Park extends from West Java into Lebak. It protects some of the largest remaining montane rainforest on Java and important water catchments.

Peat and mangroves

There is no significant peat. Mangroves survive on parts of the north coast and around Ujung Kulon and Panaitan island. The north coast mangroves have been heavily reduced by fish ponds, industrial development and erosion. Restoration of abandoned ponds is possible, but sites are small and near industry. See blue carbon.

Main commodities and deforestation drivers

• Smallholder wood: fast-growing species such as sengon are planted in community woodlots (hutan rakyat) and sold to sawmills and plywood factories.
• Cocoa and coffee: small volumes from the southern hills.
• Rubber: estates and smallholders in Lebak and Pandeglang.
• Coconut, clove, durian and other fruit trees: in mixed gardens (kebun campuran). Not EUDR commodities except where wood is sold.

Pressure on forest comes from expansion of smallholder farms at forest edges, illegal gold mining in Halimun Salak, and infrastructure and urban growth in the north. On Java, large-scale clearing for plantations is less important than gradual land-use change around dense populations.

Social forestry and customary land

The Baduy (Kanekes) community in Lebak is one of Indonesia’s best-known customary groups. Its customary forest is managed under strict rules that limit cultivation and protect sacred and protection forest. Lebak district has also recognised other Kasepuhan customary communities around Halimun Salak.

On Java, most state forest is managed by a state forestry enterprise, and social forestry operates through partnership arrangements and, since 2022, through areas designated for special management (KHDPK) where community licences can be granted. Permenhut 6/2026 names customary forests and social forestry groups as legitimate carbon participants. See customary forest carbon.

Which carbon project types fit

Smallholder woodlots are harvested on short rotations, so carbon accounting must use long-term average stocks, not peak stocks. See smallholder ARR aggregation.

EUDR exposure

Wood is the main EUDR commodity. Plywood, sawn timber and furniture are listed derived products, so exporters need geolocation of the woodlots where logs were harvested. Smallholder wood often passes through several traders before reaching a mill. Indonesia’s timber legality system (SVLK) helps with legality but does not on its own provide plot geolocation. See EUDR and wood.

Cocoa, coffee and rubber from southern Banten face standard smallholder traceability requirements.

Measurement on small Javanese plots

Plots in southern Banten are small, irregular and often under mixed canopy, which makes satellite-only estimates unreliable. Coconut, durian, clove and timber trees grow together, and canopy height alone does not separate them. Reliable baselines need ground plots with species-level measurement, and woodlot boundaries need GNSS mapping rather than village sketch maps. The same plot data can support EUDR geolocation for wood buyers, so a single field campaign serves both purposes. Remote sensing still helps to check land cover history back to 2020 and to the ten-year ARR eligibility window.

Practical next steps

For tree-planting programmes, check land status, the 10-year eligibility rule and farmer consent. Our feasibility and eligibility service covers this. Compare with Jakarta and West Java, and see the forest carbon hub.