Forest Carbon and EUDR in Jambi

Updated 2026-11-02 · 4 min read · By the akar.earth specialist team

Forest carbon in Jambi: Berbak peat, Kerinci Seblat and Bukit Duabelas, rubber, palm oil, pulpwood and cinnamon, project fit and EUDR exposure explained.

Jambi runs from the Kerinci highlands down to east coast peat swamps, so it offers almost every Sumatran project type: peat conservation around Berbak, lowland REDD+ and restoration, and highland agroforestry. EUDR exposure is high, led by smallholder rubber, palm oil and plantation wood, with Kerinci coffee as a smaller stream.

Forest and land cover profile

Western Jambi is mountainous. Kerinci regency sits in a high valley surrounded by Kerinci Seblat National Park, which contains Mount Kerinci, the highest volcano in Indonesia. Montane and hill forest here protects the headwaters of the Batanghari, Sumatra’s longest river.

The central lowlands were once lowland dipterocarp forest. Most has been converted to rubber, oil palm and pulpwood. Remaining blocks include Bukit Duabelas National Park, home of Orang Rimba communities, and Bukit Tigapuluh National Park on the border with Riau. Some lowland forest is held under ecosystem restoration licences, a form of production forest licence aimed at restoring rather than logging.

Peat and mangroves

The east coast districts of Tanjung Jabung Timur and Tanjung Jabung Barat, and parts of Muaro Jambi, contain large peat areas. Berbak National Park protects one of the largest remaining peat swamp forests in Sumatra and is a Ramsar wetland. Together with Sembilang National Park in South Sumatra it forms the Berbak-Sembilang biosphere reserve.

Large parts of Jambi’s peat outside protected areas have been drained for pulpwood and oil palm, and Jambi suffered heavily in the 2015 and 2019 fires. It is a national peat restoration priority province.

Mangroves line the east coast estuaries and are linked to the peat swamps behind them.

Main commodities and deforestation drivers

• Rubber: Jambi has a long smallholder rubber tradition, including older jungle rubber systems mixed with forest trees.
• Oil palm: estates and smallholders across the lowlands and onto peat.
• Pulpwood: industrial acacia plantations, many on east coast peat.
• Cinnamon: Kerinci is one of the world’s best-known cassia cinnamon areas; see cinnamon.
• Coffee and tea: arabica and robusta in Kerinci and Merangin highlands.

Drivers of loss include conversion of lowland forest to plantations, smallholder encroachment into Kerinci Seblat’s edges, illegal logging, and gold mining along rivers.

Which carbon project types fit

Jungle rubber is worth special attention. It already holds more biomass than monoculture rubber, so restoring or enriching it can deliver both carbon and EUDR-compliant supply. See rubber agroforestry. For peat options read peatland REDD+.

EUDR exposure

• Rubber: Jambi’s rubber reaches crumb rubber factories through village dealers, so plot-level geolocation is the main gap. Read EUDR and rubber.
• Palm oil: mixed estate and smallholder supply, with some plots on peat or inside forest estate.
• Wood: pulpwood harvest areas need geolocation for pulp and paper exports.
• Coffee: Kerinci coffee farms on the forest edge face both deforestation and legality checks.

Plots cleared after 31 December 2020 cannot supply the EU, and plots in forest estate need a legal basis such as a social forestry licence.

Social forestry and customary land

Jambi has been active in granting village forests (hutan desa) and recognising customary forests (hutan adat), including in Merangin and Kerinci where Malay and Kerinci customary communities have long managed forests under adat rules.

The Orang Rimba need specific care. They are mobile forest dwellers, and their rights are not always expressed through village institutions. Permenhut 6/2026 confirms customary communities as legitimate carbon market participants, but consent must be sought through processes they recognise. See customary forest carbon.

Fire and permanence

Fire is the single largest risk to carbon stored in Jambi’s peat and lowland forest. Drained peat can smoulder underground for weeks, and fires that start on farmland or plantations spread into adjacent forest. Any project here needs a fire prevention plan, early detection using satellite hotspot data and ground patrols, and agreements with neighbouring licence holders about water levels. Buffer pool contributions under Verra’s non-permanence risk tool will be higher for peat sites with a fire history, which reduces net credits but protects buyers.

Practical next steps

Start with peat depth, forest estate status and customary claims, then check ten years of land cover. Our feasibility and eligibility service runs this screening, and the forest carbon hub explains each project type.